#it's horrible but it was a wakeup call

[zhinee]

looked at old pics of myself at the wrong time and now im crying.,

[aceyanaheim]

The entire hallmark of this summer waa just "damm son youre not as Over All Of That As You Thought Get Your Ass Back To Therapy"

Which I Mean Fair I Guess

[psalmsofpsychosis]

alright fieldtrip notes, mostly for myself because i know i have to come back to this again in a few weeks:

• A telltale sign of skill and expertise is nuance and intricacy. You can hyperfocus on some shit for all your life but what actually shows your skill in the area is the amount of complexity and nuance you have around the subject and its structure. The better we are at something, the more detailed and intricate our perception of it is.

• This can take hilarious turns, because you can get very stupid with what you're actually very skilled at. Your natural talent and your strengths can and do fuck you over; complexity does not always translate well. People go wack in the head with stuff they're good at all the time, but it's a very distinct and particular kind of wack, it's very detailed and convoluted.

• Contrasting that is what i call "simple stupid", in which people say and do hilariously insane shit because they have absolutely no nuance and intricacy around something. They basically have an understanding level of a 10 years old child around the subject, and while at best it introduces a kind a very lovely innocence that makes you coo at them, at worst it's so destructive both to the self and to others, because the person's perception has no nuance whatsoever tp ground it.

• The majority of people cannot tell the difference between complex fucked-up-ness and simple fucked-up-ness in themselves. But it's very obvious to other people who are actually skilled in the thing you're being fucked up about. They can tell it right away.

• And they're actually the only people who can offer you any semblance of useful information and help; because they speak to the nuance of your worldview.

• kinda unrelated to the points above, but you can actually be very skilled at something and not have it acknowledged/have it acquited to a cheap superficial effort of someone else, and it wouldn't be about you at all– it's the fact that the other person has no nuance and complexity around the subject at all, so they cannot recognise expertise when they see it. When others miss details in something they're not interested in, your intricate effort is the same to them as any surface level effort of the same kind, and their response will reflect that; to a dog a moving river is the same as a lake as the sea as the ocean, it's all "a body of water", and a dog is not a fish. it cannot detect any substantial change in the body of water, so to say. To a fish however, the intricacies of any given body of water is very evident, and their reaction will reflect it.

• and the point above is why you cannot really base your understanding of your skillset on other people's feedback, unless they're actual experts in what you're trying to accomplish ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this is in no way implying that non-expert people's feedback dont matter, they do, in a myriad of ways. But they're not reliable metrics for assessing your skills, because of the lack of nuance.

[mintedwitcher]

Here's the thing. I don't want this cheating arc to culminate in a buddie thing. I don't want a revelation, I don't want a confession. I sure as shit DO NOT want a kiss. I dont want buddie to be tainted by this cheating arc and I do not want Eddie Diaz to make a twice-over cheater out of Buck.

When things blow up between them - because it will. It's inevitable - I want it to be because Buck is finally seeing Eddie as he is: a flawed, fucked up, traumatised man with layers of guilt so dense they've solidified into an iron cast around Eddie. I want it to be because Eddie has been lying to him, USING him to get free time to see his sidepiece, using CHRIS as a bargaining tool to keep Buck quiet and out of the way. I want it to be because Eddie just needs someone, anyone, his BEST FRIEND to tell him that he's not horrible for this. That his actions are wrong but understandable. That Buck is going to have Eddie's back in this like he does for everything else.

And when it's proven that Buck isn't going to back him, I want Eddie to lash out. I want him to drag up the Lucy of it all, I want him to make a dig at Tommy. I want him to fight dirty about it and I want Buck to fight right back. I want it to be explosive and heated and insane. I want them both to say things they don't mean, and I want BUCK to be the one who walks out.

I want Eddie to crash and burn with the guilt of it and confess to Marisol and Kim, and I want them to drop him faster than he can apologise.

I want him to try and come clean to Chris, only for Chris to get mad at him too because "You keep doing this! You keep trying to find me a new mom and I don't want one! I don't need one!" I want him to be angry and hurt because what Eddie does in his personal life affects Chris too, and Eddie CLEARLY isn't thinking about that right now.

I need it messy. I need it agonising. I need it raw.

I do NOT want this to be the lead-in to buddie or even a queer awakening arc. I need this to be THE wakeup call that Eddie has been in dire need of since Shannon died. I need this to be the moment where Eddie realises that he doesn't need to be a boyfriend or a husband to be happy.

(And then I need someone to drag him kicking and screaming to Frank's office and put that man back through therapy because CLEARLY he needs more of it.)

[lets-try-some-writing]

Hope your day is amazing! Hope you arent too stressed

How would the autobots react if Raf did in fact die from being blasted by dark energon? How do you think the series would change?

It would end horribly. Let me say that much.

I think Ratchet would take it hardest if I am being honest. After losing Cliffjumper and so many others, Rafael would be the final nail the coffin. I imagine the whole series would turn darker, if only on the side of the Autobots. Ratchet I think would begin to devote himself even more to his hatred of Megatron, possibly to the point of throwing himself into combat as well. He would want vengeance and a chance to redeem himself for his failure to help Rafael when he needed it most. He would embody the saying, "Demons run when a good man goes to war."

Optimus would remain in the grim state he found himself in during that episode. I don't see him going bayverse, but he would be darker and far less willing to offer mercy. I imagine he would still do his best to keep the Vehicons out of it, but seeing such a young life extinguished right in front of him, from another innocent species no less... I don't see it ending well. It would finally firm his resolve to kill Megatron and I can see both him and Ratchet working together in that regard and grieving together.

Arcee and Bulkhead I can see becoming far more protective of their wards, maybe even to the point of sending them away. They would refuse to risk anything after Rafael. If Jack and Miko weren't removed from their care, I don't doubt that they would be far more cautious and clinical. It was attachment that led to Rafael being injured in the first place. Best to keep things clinical until the kids inevitably do something that forces the team to acknowledge them again.

Poor Bumblebee though. He would take it just as hard as Ratchet I think. Rafael was his first ward and a friend. The death of Rafael as a byproduct of war I believe would influence him for better and for worse at the same time. He would step up, becoming more of a leader and a warrior as times demanded it. At the same time, he would follow in Optimus's footsteps and likely become more stoic after an initial phase of pure wrath that mimics Ratchet's mental state.

The Autobots as a whole would be far more wiling to fight and kill for victory. They've lost too many, and by the time Magnus and Smokescreen arrive, they will be in for one harsh wakeup call as the entire team march off to war with vigor and wrath not seen since the start of it all.

[muddyorbsblr]

the 'one look and they'll know' collection

click here if you want to revisit only certain arcs in the story

pre-relationship era

charades

After a particularly horrible day on set, Chris extends an invitation for you to join the cast in a game of charades to unwind.

dating era

one look and they'll know

You go to work on the set of Thor Ragnarok one day and you're greeted with the sight of one Tom Hiddleston on his knees and your coworkers whispering about how he perfected his posture.

when the feeling sinks in

Ragnarok wrapped up filming and now you're back in your apartment, waking up a little too alone and feeling a little too lonely. You thought that you were the only one until you heard a knock on your door.

the warmest bed i've ever known

Tom has convinced you to go back to London with him for a few weeks, and a photo of you two out and about together has opinions firing left and right.

remote consults behind enemy lines

You casually reveal that you consulted on costume design for another supersuit, leading to an unexpected reaction from your boyfriend

a sizing mishap

You hand Player #6 his uniform but it's the wrong size… part of the Soccer Aid Collection

a tale of ice baths and hot sauce

An effort is made to find out who your mystery boyfriend is during the Elementals challenge when some members of the staff see some marks on your neck that weren't there before… part of the Soccer Aid Collection

save my room for last

One of the duties you're assigned for Soccer Aid Training Week is to run wakeup calls for a handful of players. Today you and your fellow staff members draw names for who you have to wake up. part of the Soccer Aid Collection

after hours visits

An unwelcome visitor knocks at the door of Tom's hotel room while you two were trying to enjoy your evening together part of the Soccer Aid Collection

everybody's watching him…but he's looking at you

Old scars start hurting once again in the wake of your brazen and disrespectful visitor from the night before, and Tom's there to comfort you…on and off the field part of the Soccer Aid Collection

to turn me on [coming soon]

with his name on it [coming soon]

married era

come on, england

When the video director for Tom's promo seems uncomfortable with articulating the vision that was instructed of him, you step in to help things along part of the Soccer Aid Collection

this magnetic force of a man

A watch party livestream on TikTok catches sight of you and Tom in the VIP tent of the final night of the Eras Tour in London

??? era

blurbs

consult an expert

You decide to lean in to the notion of you having 'domme vibes' and look into how to embrace that newfound side of you.

braced for impact

Some haunting memories pop up out of the blue one otherwise peaceful afternoon while you were situated on your favorite seat…your boyfriend's lap.

[dongyeonsimp]

Ok but picture the geumza plaza residents and Vincenzo slowly realising just how much Han Seo is affected still by the abuse and how much is ingrained in him. Like the little things such as being asked to choose what food he wants, so he chooses bland food because he's used to what he 'wants' being something completely different to his actual likes because he doesn't think his opinions matter/are better or valid and because his mind is still in 'please everyone around you by answering how you think they want you to' mode. So then slowly they realise whats going on and let him know he CAN choose for himself and his choices aren't 'wrong' so he gets happy as if he's just won the lottery (not as if he needs the money anyway lol). They all would just be baffled at the idea of someone not being used to affection at all, and it'd be a horrible wakeup call to treat Han Seo nicer

I'm just imagining them realising how much they take for granted when they present Han Seo with the smallest of kindness and he's like 'WHOA this is so cool!'

[orangeocelotmartyn]

Martyn’s rant about homophobia in chat, transcript under the cut

Martyn: big big thank you to my mods tonight, for, um, keeping chat clear. Anybody who's been coming in this evening, if they're still lurking or whatever else, you've been coming in and being like, "ugh blah blah blah—“ just saying like, random homophobic shit, you're a fucking loser. Like, honest to god, like...(laughs) and I say that, sincerely. Like, you need that bluntness, and that harshness to give you a wakeup call, but, you are lacking compassion, currently. You are lacking compassion and understanding and love. You are wasting your finite moments on this planet by being horrible. And like, as much as I, like, wanna say that you're awful, I do sympathize that people are products of their environments for the most part, but you can change, and you should change. 

So, if you can—you don't even have to take time to like, read, or learn, or do any of that sort of stuff in relation to these topics. Just. Don't say anything. You know what I mean? Like, you just don't need to go and spoute horribleness. Nobody's out to get you, nobody's out to convert you, nobody's out to do x, y, and z, people just wanna love who they love, and they wanna live their lives, and, they wanna enjoy the same minecraft event that you do. They wanna go and see the same films as you do, they wanna watch sports, they wanna cook food, they wanna do paintings, all of it, like. It’s literally what they like to do, behind closed doors or even out in public, it genuinely shouldn't concern you. 

Like, it shouldn't take some kind of world shaking or near death experience for you to have this epiphany, thats all I'm trying to say, like. You really need to understand that—you know, you could be doing something so much more productive. You know what, even if you aren't like, a mega sweat, instead of spending time coming into someone's live stream chat and saying x, y, z, why don't you go get good at the game?

Why don't you go get good at something, like, develop a skill, or a talent, or...you know what I mean? If you wanna be heard, you wanna be seen, and whatever else, if you're doing it purely for attention, make people pay attention, but for the right reasons. That's my take on it. It's just not necessary, it really isn't. So...there you go.

Yeah, develop a personality. At the moment you are genuinely reducing yourself—unfairly so!—to being just a toxic soundboard, that's not saying anything different to all of the other people that are...devoid of their unique traits and personality. You don't want your mark on this earth to be just like other people. Be unique, but for good reasons. Be unique by contributing something. Something that will last not even to the whole world--not everybody has to remember you, but make sure that the people that are around you remember you for really lovely reasons! Really good reasons. That's all you can do.

So...there you go. "You can be funny without being discrimintory," Hundred percent, yeah. Hundred percent you can. I'm just funny with doing stupid puns and breaking the fourth wall every so often. That's my niche.

[daughter-of-sapph0]

this is incredibly funny

"why don't I have any friends" it's because you're a fascist who wants to kill people you don't like! people aren't friends with fascists. people aren't friends with nazis. and people aren't friends with terfs.

how have you gotten to the point in your life where you have realized that everyone you know and love has abandoned you because of your absolutely horrible and genocidal opinions and you have to make a choice between either living as a normal person and repenting for your horrendous actions, or continuing to dig even deeper and jump even further into the cesspool of nazi ideology? how is this not a wakeup call for you? how can you stand to live with yourself not only after campaigning to murder marginalized groups and victims of oppression and the patriarchy, lose all your friends and end up as a shut in loser, have the only people who actually agree with you be literal nazis and pedophiles, and still call yourself a feminist and defender of women's rights?

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hello! Been reading your twilight posts recentlt and was wondering what you think might have happened if James had killed Emmett in the ballet studio, particularly how it would have affected Rosalie/her dynamic with the Cullens?

Bella feels horribly guilty to learn that her stupid plan to save her mother (who had not been kidnapped) as well as the fact that she drew James's attention in the first place (which would not have happened had she not intruded in the Cullen's world where she feels she doesn't belong) got someone killed. Not just someone, either, but one of the Cullens, Edward's beloved brother, and Emmett who seemed so nice for all she didn't know him that well.

Bella is devastated and feels increadibly guilty and horrible.

This is made worse by Rosalie's (understandable if not ideal) reaction where I imagine she blames Bella to her face. This never would have happened if Bella had not been involved in their lives, not come to that baseball game, or if they hadn't saved her from that stupid van/killed her the night after like Rosalie wanted to. Rosalie feels as if she's traded Emmett for Bella and she hates that.

Edward of course blames Rosalie for having the worst reaction possible and actively driving Bella into a depression.

I imagine Rosalie leaves, Edward clearly isn't leaving Bella (as I imagine he'd want to hold on a little longer/this wouldn't be the New Moon wakeup call for him) and she wants time on her own to grieve/not get into fights with Edward over whose fault it is that Emmett died. No doubt Rosalie also blames the family somewhat as if they had sided with her and chosen not to protect Bella, Emmett would be alive. It's understandable why they wanted to protect Bella but it also was dangerous and risked someone dying for what. Rosalie needs some time to process alone.

Bella now feels she's driven Rosalie out of the family, this makes her guilt even worse.

I imagine Bella actively tries to avoid the Cullen household that summer (unlike canon) as being there reminds Bella of what happened/she believes it reminds the Cullens of what happened...

Honestly, I think Bella dumps Edward. She tries to hang on to him but as the weeks go by and his family is clearly falling apart, and it's all her fault, and he's sitting there being so sweet when she just effectively murdered his brother...

I don't think Bella could do it, it'd be too much and she'd double down on "Edward deserves better than me". Especially when she can justify that Edward can't read her thoughts, he's clearly too good to ever blame her when she deserves it, and she can say to herself "Edward doesn't realize how awful of a person I am."

So, Bella breaks up with him so that he can have someone better, his family can move, and they can heal. Edward is shocked and horrified but in the midst of his despair and depression remembers that this was what he wanted, he wanted to leave Bella eventually and her doing it versus him might be better. So, Edward leaves immediately and steals all her pictures/every gift he ever gave her.

Bella sinks into her New Moon depression immediately (made worse by Emmett's death and the fact that Bella did this herself and now is weak for wanting to take back her decision and oh god she's the worst person on the planet).

The Hallucination Edward times are even more fraught as Bella feels doubly guilty in that she shouldn't want to summon Edward and yet she can't live without him. I imagine this results in even riskier behavior as Bella genuinely thinks she should die and gets closer and closer to actively wanting it.

Bella probably succeeds in killing herself.

(The Jacob thing here... I don't know if he could help because the thing is Bella despises herself so much/feels so guilty and Jacob has no context for understanding this even if he becomes a wolf (added that Bella now is responsible for people dying because Victoria is actively hunting her) that I don't think Bella can use her friendship with him to claw her way out of depression.

He'd probably just make her feel worse given he shifted because of Victoria which is because of her and have we mentioned Emmett is dead?)

I imagine Alice does not tell Rosalie in part because Rosalie's not near her when it happens also because... well... bad history and Alice blames Rosalie for this mess.

This means no one tells Edward.

Edward's suicide is thus put off for as long as he feels he can live without Bella. When he breaks and goes to check on her, he discovers she's died and goes to Volterra to kill himself where no one is able to stop him from breaking the law.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

what's so frustrating about catra's arc is just how many wakeup calls she gets in the series and how most of them hit the nail on the head until s5 rolls around and is like “um actually we were wrong, none of this is catra's fault”.

glimmer is the first person who doesn't hesitate to call catra out for her actions. while adora still considers catra as her friend and bow is not really one for verbal banter, glimmer says that adora didn't leave the horde, she left catra. while this wasn't what happened, we can see how it could easily be the case, considering that catra's abuse could have very well steered adora away from the horde.

later on, entrapta tries to convince catra that opening the portal and risking the lives of thousands of people just for one is not the best idea.

then we get the iconic portal scene which starts the domino effect. adora is sick of being blamed for all of catra's actions and finally calls her out. shortly after this, we see how lonnie, kyle and rogelio start to get disillusioned with the horde with the way catra is treating them. scorpia, who had stuck around for so long, finally leaves after telling catra that she's a bad friend.

the final blow was double trouble's speech, though it was a little incorrect and victim blamey. you would think that after all these characters called out catra for being selfish, cruel and toxic, she would either get a good redemption arc or she would face the consequences of not taking responsibility for her actions.

she doesn't. the closest catra comes to even acknowledging her actions is the whole “me? all i do is hurt people”. which is still a gross understatement. i've seen many horrible people do this, where they use very vague terms like “i made a mistake” or “i hurt people” to downplay the severity of their actions. “hurting people” can fall anywhere on the scale of accidentally stepping on someone's foot to killing their entire bloodline.

so yeah. all this build up for nothing. all these characters pinpointed out catra's worst traits, only for the writers to go and erase all of that in s5 because they were too lazy and incompetent to write a good redemption arc.

[waywardkestrel]

Settlers Taunting Palestinian Woman (older photo)

Since the recent conflict started up I haven't been able to stop thinking about this horrible photo. This picture was my wakeup call about the Israel Palestine conflict when I first saw it several years ago. It got me curious enough to read a thorough history of the region and I was horrified. Particularly horrified that people like these vile young men are still to this day allowed to walk into people's neighborhoods and harass them and regularly steal their homes from them. Hundreds of thousands of people are actively settlers on stolen land, and moderates/conservatives in Israel's government give them guns and encourage it!

If anyone out of the loop is wondering why Palestinians are still so perpetually angry at Israel this is a large part of it. This harassment, theft and violence has been perpetual for decades. There is no hope for peace as long as land is still being actively taken. Can you imagine living somewhere your whole life and a guy with a gun comes to your door, points it at you and tells you it's his home now? And laughs at you while you leave? How could you ever come to accept that?

[puhpandas]

something i think about with my flashlight duo universe all the time is how gregory wants to give michael a taste of his own medicine but evan doesnt want conflict. he wants to keep gregory and his family strictly away from his own family because meshing them just feels like a horrible idea.

and the thing is that..... giving michael a taste of his own medicine would change things. if somebody michael thought as an equal/cooler hit him or said mean things to him like he does to evan hed be experiencing exactly the same thing, and hed mull it over. how it felt to be treated that way. maybe he wouldnt like it and deep down hed be forced to confront how that person intended for it to be showing him how the way he treats evan is wrong. and it is exactly how he treats evan.

but gregory isnt like that for michael. hes evans pipsqueak friend who hes always at the house of that michael barely thought was real at first until evan started disappearing and acting less miserable. if gregory hit him or yelled at him he wouldnt care.

basically michael getting a taste of his own medicine would cause a little bit of a wakeup call earlier if it happened to him. so gregorys right in that sense that it should be given to him, but evans right as in it wouldnt do any good. because gregory is on the same level as evan to michael which is lesser and nothing gregory could say would make him care

[defodisturbed]

Diet Culture - Poly!Recoms x PlusSize!reader

(A/N: inspired by the song Diet Culture by Brye! i love the song and can relate to it as a mid/plus-size person. i wrote this for my friend (you know who you are) and thought she would like it! i've always felt insecure and i'm sure many of you have as well. i hope this can bring you some joy or comfort even in the slightest. enjoy!)

And I know their worst fear is to look like me

And that fact makes me want to kill somebody.

To be a plus-sized person in the modern age has never been an easy feat. At least in the 16-18th century they thought it was very beautiful and desirable to have a body like mine. But now, as resources run dry and there's no space for everyone due to overpopulation, everyone hates fat people more than ever before. The body positivity movement was popular and utilized in the 21st century, but thats far, far behind us now. I feel crippling anxiety and shame every day for having to do the simplest things. Riding the train, feeling tired, and hell, even eating. My last thought before dying was that maybe in the next life I could be thinner.

Here I am now, staring at myself in the mirror. My skin is blue, I have stripes, and Lord, what a fatass I feel like. Why couldn't Parker or whoever's in charge of Project Phoenix just let me live in peace for once? My teammates are standing behind me as I examine my new teeth, tail, and my new skin. How big of a hospital gown did they have to make for me? I should apologize for this. I should apologize for having been brought back. Nobody wants a fat girl on their team. Nobody likes a fat girl. Nobody cares about fat girls. My thoughts run rampant through my head as I start to zone out.

"Hey, Y/N, you good? I know it's a little weird at first..." Lyle asks. I snap out of it and start to walk towards the door. I ask for someone to take me to my room, and so they escort me to my new place. It's very nice. They give me a lot of clothes and tell me to get comfortable because I'll be here awhile.

I get changed and explore my room. It's well lit, and when the lights are off, you can barely see anything. That's good for sleep. The bed is soft and it is comfortable.

When I get settled, the first number I call is my best friend. I tell her about how I just got resurrected and she asks how I feel.

"Fucking horrible. My body is still as fat if not fatter than it was before, my hair is messy, my skin is blue now, I have a weird tail and sharp teeth, and I just want to die again. I would like to die over and over again until they bring me back in at least a smaller body."

My friend tries to comfort me but her advice just doesn't do the trick this time. I tell her I gotta unpack and get situated. We say goodbye and I hang up.

Fuck, why did they have to do this to me?

---

I hear a knock at the door. I roll my eyes, making a game out of guessing who wants to talk to me now. I open the door, seeing my old friend, Alicia Zdinarsk. I invite her in and she offers to help me unpack. I accept her offer, and as we unpack, she tells me how weird it was for her to wake up blue as well. I wanted to shout IT'S NOT THE BLUE! IT'S NOT THE TAIL, NOT THE TEETH, NOTHING LIKE THAT! but I held back. I can't argue without crying anyway.

"Hey, you okay? You kind of zoned out in the wakeup room." Z says. I reply, "Yeah, it's just I really wish they revived me in a smaller body. I don't know how they expect a fat girl to-"

"No. You're not gonna call yourself fat as an insult. You're so awesome, and I cannot imagine being here again without you. Sure, people on Earth might've hated fat people, but we're not on Earth anymore. And last time I checked, we all love you just as you are. You don't need to change anything about you. We love you more than you could ever imagine, okay?" Z said. I was stunned. "Okay." I replied. I was always amazed by their collective love for me, but I never thought it was as deep as this. Nobody has ever told me they love me in the way Z just did, let alone a whole team of soldiers.

"Hello?? Y/N, Z??? You in there??? Mansk is making cocktails for us and I want us all to be there when we get drunk and grind-y tonight!" Lyle yelled through the door, banging on it as he did so. "Lyle, we're gonna head over in a second! For right now, keep it in your pants!" Z yelled back. I chuckled as we finished the last box of stuff. I could hear Lyle make a noise of disappointment outside, not wanting to wait any longer. I rolled my eyes and looked into Z's deeply, before pulling her in for a little kiss. She returned it, and we hugged until Lyle came banging on the door again.

"Can we at least watch a movie in the meantime??"

MWAH hope yall enjoyed!! @dyingofcookies thought you would like this :3 💋💋

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

there are a lot of reasons i'm really, really impressed by how well sdmi portrayed the dynamic of an abusive relationship with pericles and ricky, and one of the big ones is how accurately they show what it looks like when abuse starts to escalate.

the extent of that is yet another thing that'll take a longpost of its own to go into, because it spans like.... the entire arc of their relationship in the show. but one thing that stands out to me in particular is their portrayal of the massive red flag that is a partner trotting out bigoted behavior against a group you're in. especially insults, and especially directed right at you.

this show has a LOT of fatphobia, jesus christ does it ever, and there are certainly some fatphobic tropes going on with ricky; but i've always been surprised and impressed by how many of the nastier ones they avoided, especially considering his role in the story and what his arc is about.

he is a major, nuanced character whose trauma is treated with full weight and sincerity. it's implied that his body type changed the way it did due to the trauma he went through when he was younger, and the ensuing mental illness, which is a pretty realistic experience for a lot of people. the things that happen to him are played for full tragedy and horror, when it would have been so, so easy for them to make light of it because Tee Hee Fat Guy and Tee Hee Male Abuse Victims Funnee. despite how his whole thing involves corporate greed, they don't go the route of portraying him as Gluttonous and Hedonistic; if anything he is very obviously not using all that money for even basic physical self-care, and the only time we ever see him eating anything it's when he's drinking wine grape juice with pericles. which, like, there's issues to be unpacked with that too, but jesus christ it's an improvement over what usually happens with characters like him.

he's a fat queer man who isn't degendered or made feminine in a mocking and/or predatory way. (there's nothing wrong with feminine fat queer men and they need more non-shitty rep, please and thank you god, but there is a lot of nastiness in the tropes they're often used for in mainstream media, and one of those tropes is when people consider 'fat queer man' and 'masc' to be oxymorons.) no one ever once calls him ugly; if anything multiple people in his life think he's attractive and desirable, for better or for worse. no one body-shames him. and no one ever mentions his weight.

except pericles.

'The Horrible Herd' and 'The Devouring' are two halves of a whole here, re: escalation of abuse. 'Devouring' is when the abuser goes full mask off and shit hits the fan; 'Horrible Herd' is the wind-up before the punch. HH is when ricky realizes things are getting Bad and he needs to put a stop to this now, and Devouring shows what happens when he tries, because by the point where it's gotten bad enough to give him a wakeup call it's already too late. it's how abusive relationships tend to go, and it's chillingly accurate.

and what's one of the things pericles says during Horrible Herd when that punch is winding up? something no one's ever said before now, including him? 'you pudding-faced dummkopf.'

he body-shames him. he insults his weight, and that's a major turning point. bigotry is something that's often there to some degree from the start, but not always, because some abusers are good at hiding things like that until they're confident they've got you where they want you. the message with ricky and pericles is loud and clear: when this happens, the walls are dripping blood. get out.

(if you can. and be careful when you try.)

when this show is good, it is really, truly good. god damn.

[lets-try-some-writing]

okay but what about robots in disguise?? its not a favorite of mine but it’s still pretty good. russel and his dad are decent lol

Frag that show.

It disrespected TFP on every level and for that it has my eternal hatred and contempt. The humans were annoying, and I HATED how many interesting plot threads there were that were either done poorly or with so little tact that the writing team should have just scrapped it. The designs are tolerable, but I hate how canon TFP characters lost so much of their individuality in their designs (coughtheopticscough). Smokescreen is fricking GONE, which bothers me more than I care to admit. We see the rest of the team enough to be reasonable, but they all appear in ways that don't really make me happy.

Ratchet was done well enough in my opinion. I like his RID design. It suites him. Optimus's design can go die in a hole, they brutalized that mech. Same with Jazz. Frag those stupid shoulder pads.

Grimlock is fun, I appreciate Sideswipe, although his helm hair thingies I think need a redesign to make sense in relation to his alt mode. Strongarm was HORRIBLY underutilized and I hardly saw any character growth in her. Drift and his crew were interesting, but similarly not given much room to grow. I really liked Windblade for the most part, especially the episode where she tries to baby Optimus and comes out having relearned that Op is still a PRIME with MILLIONS OF YEARS OF WAR EXPERIENCE.

The Primes who've done nothing but sit on their rears had NO RIGHT to belittle Optimus at every turn. Nor did the show have the right to make him an idiot for the sake of making Bee look smarter. As @nova--spark has pointed out, the personality Bee got in the show matches Smokescreen better. Bumblebee wouldn't have SUCKED so much at the whole leadership shtick. What happened to all that skill shown in the movie huh? HUH WRITING TEAM????!??!?!

While I am on this train. OPTIMUS DIED SO GOSH DARN LEAVE HIM ALONE!!! He should have stayed deceased, or if they REALLY needed him back, he should have either returned as an Civi or came back with actual issues. Like dang hear me out mate.

Optimus is forcefully returned to life, beats the Fallen with his borrowed power, but then has to actually deal with the consequences of essentially being a walking bomb for a while. Make him start losing plating, make his frame HURT, make him slim down again into the TFP base design. Just, give him a reason to have to sit back and RECOVER. Not this whole half hearted limping around garbage. To add to that, don't baby the mech. Let him stay at base and fulfill the role Ratchet did in TFP. Let him use his knowledge to teach and offer wisdom, plan battles and locate enemies. For Primus's sake he could have gone undercover on Cybertron or something if they really needed him to go be useless elsewhere.

THEY COULD HAVE EVEN HAD AN ARC WITH HIM GIVING THE TEAM A WAKEUP CALL!!! SIdeswipe has no respect for the mission, Grimlock is a fool, Strongarm is too snarky, and Bee in this seems to have largely forgotten about the seriousness except for during key moments. They could have made Optimus a minor antagonist, forcing the team to follow wartime standards since they laid down this plot thread regarding issues between leadership styles and Optimus trying to take control of the operation more than once.

I would have paid money to see Optimus's wartime mentality show itself in the best and worst ways through how he worked with this group of non war vets on a Decepticon capture mission. Maybe even have him use lethal force once or twice, or at least hint at it so that people can be reminded that he is a mech who went to war, killed countless bots, and both drove their people to and saved their people from extinction.

Bee could have had to teach Optimus to calm down. He could have helped eased his leader out of his wartime mindset. Or following that whole council running Cybertron route, Optimus could have had his moment of being very much right when he points out WHY he fought at all and gestures towards the new council. There was SO MUCH potential in this show, so many good threads and interesting Decepticon character that could have given so much depth to the war and the aligned continuity as a whole, but they were almost ALL ignored.

*deep breath*

Alright, sorry about that. I have big feelings in regards to how dirty Optimus was done. Moving on, the Predacons were killed off supposedly and that pisses me off ESPECIALLY because it was done in a fricking offscreen setting. What the hell happened to Predaking??? WHERE DID HE GO????

Starscream's design was rad though, not going to lie.

Where is Shockwave? No seriously where is that fragger? After several years of the map he MUST have an army growing in a tank somewhere.

Soundwave. Why. ARe. YOU. HERE??!?!?!? I love you man but dang you are so out of place. He made sense in the context of trying to get to Megatron, but idk he felt like he deserved better. He should have been the big brain behind the Cons on Earth if you asked me. It would have made everything far more intense, especially if the Cons dont follow Decepticon creed as seen by Soundwave.

The humans were annoying. Sorry they just were.

Fixit is Primus's gift to RID and he's one of the few individuals who makes it less annoying. Idk, I just like him in reasonable doses.

WHERE ARE THE TFP KIDS?! WHY HAS BEE NOT CALLED THEM?? GOOD HEAVENS THERE IS A WHOLE SUBPLOT RIGHT THERE!!!

*yet another deep breath*

Apologies.

To put things simply, I would rather a group of fanfic writers put RID together than whoever the writing team was. They could have made a coherent story with deep characters that actually address the ramifications of millions of years of war and lingering functionalist mindsets. They would have done the lore and the world justice even if there were no main characters popping up.

I think RID has so much potential, but that almost all of it went right down the toilet due to either the higher ups sticking their noses where they don't belong or because the writing team couldn't go two minutes without retconning or otherwise destroying established everything.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.