#mega space crew

[koodless]

Shadowman!! Very creature, very outer space, very good eyeliner

I'd like to think that the first person, who unknowingly, is the one to come close to uncovering Shadow as like an alien form/ organic than a robot, is Magnet Man. Yet Mags doesn't know that he's not a robot, he just thinks he's heavier/ made of different material, what have you.

Comic dialogue if you can't read it, its v scribbly:

Magnet(M): YAY new recruit!

M: Hope you like hugs, I'm pulling you over! (he charges his magnet powers)

Shadow doesn't move, and they both realize it. S is sweating, while Mags just looks at him.

M: huh, you must be made of something heavier!

S(relieved): yeah, something like that...

[nasa]

Rockets, Racecars, and the Physics of Going Fast

When our Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launches the Artemis missions to the Moon, it can have a top speed of more than six miles per second. Rockets and racecars are designed with speed in mind to accomplish their missions—but there’s more to speed than just engines and fuel. Learn more about the physics of going fast:

Take a look under the hood, so to speak, of our SLS mega Moon rocket and you’ll find that each of its four RS-25 engines have high-pressure turbopumps that generate a combined 94,400 horsepower per engine. All that horsepower creates more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch our four Artemis astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft beyond Earth orbit and onward to the Moon. How does that horsepower compare to a racecar? World champion racecars can generate more than 1,000 horsepower as they speed around the track.

As these vehicles start their engines, a series of special machinery is moving and grooving inside those engines. Turbo engines in racecars work at up to 15,000 rotations per minute, aka rpm. The turbopumps on the RS-25 engines rotate at a staggering 37,000 rpm. SLS’s RS-25 engines will burn for approximately eight minutes, while racecar engines generally run for 1 ½-3 hours during a race.

To use that power effectively, both rockets and racecars are designed to slice through the air as efficiently as possible.

While rockets want to eliminate as much drag as possible, racecars carefully use the air they’re slicing through to keep them pinned to the track and speed around corners faster. This phenomenon is called downforce.

Steering these mighty machines is a delicate process that involves complex mechanics.

Most racecars use a rack-and-pinion system to convert the turn of a steering wheel to precisely point the front tires in the right direction. While SLS doesn’t have a steering wheel, its powerful engines and solid rocket boosters do have nozzles that gimbal, or move, to better direct the force of the thrust during launch and flight.

Racecar drivers and astronauts are laser focused, keeping their sights set on the destination. Pit crews and launch control teams both analyze data from numerous sensors and computers to guide them to the finish line. In the case of our mighty SLS rocket, its 212-foot-tall core stage has nearly 1,000 sensors to help fly, track, and guide the rocket on the right trajectory and at the right speed. That same data is relayed to launch teams on the ground in real time. Like SLS, world-champion racecars use hundreds of sensors to help drivers and teams manage the race and perform at peak levels.

Knowing how to best use, manage, and battle the physics of going fast, is critical in that final lap. You can learn more about rockets and racecars here.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[lonestarflight]

"Core Stage for Artemis II Rocket Moved to Pegasus Barge for Departure to Kennedy Space Center

This image shows team members moving the first core stage that will help launch the first crewed flight of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the agency’s Artemis II mission. The move marked the first time a fully assembled Moon rocket stage for a crewed mission has rolled out from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans since the Apollo Program.

The core stage was moved onto the agency’s Pegasus barge, where it will be ferried to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The core stage for the SLS mega rocket is the largest stage NASA has ever produced. At 212 feet tall, the stage consists of five major elements, including two huge propellant tanks that collectively hold more than 733,000 gallons of super chilled liquid propellant to feed four RS-25 engines at its base. During launch and flight, the stage will operate for just over eight minutes, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help send a crew of four astronauts inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft onward to the Moon.

NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft and Gateway in orbit around the Moon and commercial human landing systems, next-generation space, next-generational spacesuits, and rovers on the lunar surface. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch."

Credit: NASA

Date: July 16, 2024

Posted on Flickr by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center: link

[paxarsenal]

Mutuality

A WaveWave (Soundwave x Shockwave) fanfiction I had sitting in my notes app since June.

I'm so normal about them ✍(◔◡◔) <(💜💙💜💙...) Spreading Wavewave propaganda all around!!!

~~~

Everything they’d established was mutual. Everything was temporary.

Yet…

Soundwave worked through long cycles at a time. Although Vehicons worked as equals with said con, they would often head out in herds and murmur amongst themselves, turning towards their higher upper in ignorant secrecy. “He wouldn’t go… Workaholic… Always so quiet…” They would say and leave, yet the communication officer didn’t care. He liked it alone. He… was alone.

Being alone wasn’t too bad as Cybertronians put it to be. Sure, all sentient beings such as humans are social creatures. Why wouldn’t a biological AI be? Soundwave scoffed in silence, amused by discussions of socializing and friends, some bot to lean onto. He has no need for that, but somehow in some way, he still felt empty.

Mega-cycles prior to the events of the Civil War, he was just a gladiator within the rings of Kaon. Almost besting even the then most notorious Megatrous, and as an ex-senator, he had ways to keep himself occupied. Soundwave was as loyal as Orion Pax to Megatrous. The latter would then become the last Prime and Megatron’s archenemy, but Soundwave saw the light Megatron envisioned and showed. The Decepticon saw himself as the only one deemed inseparable from the Decepticon cause and to Megatron until he was wrong.

Shockwave… was a newcomer and was immediately impressed by this visionary. He devoted himself to the cause with the knowledge of science at the back of his servo. He was of great use; easy to bond with if you were Megatron.

… If you were Megatron… or…

Soundwave found himself side to side with Shockwave when calculating the future events that would behold on their precious planet. They hardly talked. Well, Soundwave never did, but it seems as if Shockwave could read his thought processor and always understood him no matter the situation.

They found themselves together through their work and even areas of leisure. Each one’s company filled the other with unexplainable warmth, craving it yet never so close. It was vulnerable and bitter, but also sickly sweet.

Everything they had was mutual. Everything was temporary.

Shockwave never returned to the Nemesis after their last battle at Cybertron. He assumed he sacrificed himself for the fruition of the Decepticon cause… or lost his life to a disposable Autobot. However, he kept those words to himself as he always did. He never showed his concerns. Not even the worries of a lost friend…

Thoughts of Shockwave bored into his processor as days went on.

When Shockwave did come back, Soundwave held his tempered emotions between his empty exterior, wondering still thoughts and muted feelings. As the meek Starscream and honorable Megatron discussed the whereabouts of Shockwave’s new discovery, Soundwave turned his HUD mask to that scarlet orb of a con. He stared at Shockwave, spark still alight.

Soundwave found Shockwave admiring the space of blue and violet at the Nemesis’s large interior window. Soundwave usually patrolled the corridors before heading to his berth. It was a mere task any mech can do, but he found it as an excuse to clear his mind off of the stress the crew caused numerous times, be it their own or the Autobots.

He stood by Shockwave, neither inching closer or away. He too glanced up at the night-lit aurora that passed through each universe. The stars reflected on SoundWave’s screen; it was beautiful.

“Surely my disappearance didn’t cause too much of a strain for Megatron or the faction,” Shockwave started, his free limb swayed to meet his chassis as red optic focused on Soundwave.

Soundwave shook his helm. “Negative: Decepticons, steady process.”

“You?”

“Affirmative: Soundwave… ” He stopped himself. He couldn’t start now. How uncharacteristic it would be, the silent and vicious Communication Commander, speechless for words. But even then, he wouldn’t lie to Shockwave, so why now?

“Troubled.”

Shockwave nodded the best he could for an Empurata. “I expected as much, for a high command, you are valued - for me, not as much.” His partner resisted the urge to scoff, to break the vow of silence to argue it was not. However, he said nothing. Instead, he turned to Shockwave and latched his paper-thin fingers over Shockwave’s oppositely sharp ones. They mindlessly took hold of each other’s small embrace, their figures never unmoving until their chassis touched and faceless helms pressed into gentle bliss.

As opposed to Soundwave’s cold exterior of a vision field, Shockwave was hot, radiating heat that warmed the equally cold-sparked mech. The way Soundwave cooled Shockwave’s underlying heat which never faded from Kalis and the Enforcers.

Despite this mutuality, there was indeed something. War was a terrible, terrible concept that separated many physical and mental bonds. At best, Shockwave and Soundwave never made any. Still, their existence lingered within hard metal and soft sparks.

Even if everything they had was mutual… everything was temporary, they had everything.

[women-in-writing]

Women in Whump: Sci-fi Edition 1

- Woman pilot stranded on a planet she's never been to after her ship is impounded.

- Alien woman who's abducted by the US government and experimented on after her ship crashes.

- Android who's owner throws her out after upgrading to a 'newer' model, leaving her homeless.

- Woman who stows away on a freighter to escape an abusive partner without realizing she accidentally snuck on a pirate vessel.

- Queen of a hive-mind dragging herself out of her destroyed nest after team of scientists stole her brood.

- Woman living in a mega-tower who gets violently mugged and needs to walk down ten levels back to her apartment.

- Mecha pilot who needs to cut off a limb to escape her damaged mech.

- Cyborg woman who's parts are hacked by a controlling partner to keep her inside.

- Teen runaway getting lost in the service tunnels of a massive space-station.

Non-con under the cut!!

- Hacked android who has no choice but to perform sexual favors for people.

- Only woman crew member on a spaceship being assaulted by the rest of the crew as 'stress relief'.

- Women from highly sexualized species being abducted and sold into sexual slavery for humans and other aliens.

- Woman in cyberpunk future who's brain is hacked and she's forced to relive her assault.

- Woman stowing away on a ship is found and raped as punishment.

[witchofthesouls]

Hello, I don't usually ask questions on social networks, but I wanted to know what you think of a story where our human friend suffers an accident aboard the lost light in the Brainstrom laboratory and now the bots are able to see his thoughts. Bonus points if it's weird stuff (most of our minds are very weird), (sorry if something is poorly translated, I'm writing this with the translator) ^^)

One, I absolutely adore this concept.

Two, did you know there are people that think in pictures rather than use an internal voice?

And to top it off, people go around referencing pop culture, iconic scenes, memes, and their favorite media as well as the weird, intrusive thoughts and extreme, nonsensical daydreams...

I like to think there would be a media war between the Cybertronians that never went to Earth and only know beloved cartoons and shows and memes from the weird reenactment from the resident human's mind but with the Lost Light crew getting morphed into it versus the Cybertronians that actually had direct experience and personally downloaded those shows and movies.

As the "I Ship It" song goes, canon ground versus crack ship space.

Does anyone else remember those Naruto animation videos where the Akatsuki are drawn drunk or doing hilarious dances? The human looked up the Decepticon Justice Division, cross referenced on what they do, and immediately thought of a full sequence of the D.J.D. doing the Gang Torture Dance from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

The human thinks of sequences, including but not limited to:

Ultra Magnus as Steve Harvey from Family Feud with Rodimus with the "Nekkid Grandma!" bit

Rodimus doing "Goofy Goober Rock" because Roddy would love to be suspended in the air and dressed in wizard swag with a killer rip on a peanut-themed guitar. Drift has the legs to fulfill Patrick's fishnet-and-heels dance.

Megatron and Ratchet in The Office because he would stare deep into the camera at whatever new trouble has plagued the ship

Getaway and Rodimus doing the "Tony and Ezekiel" bit

So many fire-related memes: Elmo and the "This is fine." Dog.

The overlap of Rodimus in Gurren Lagen and Bang Brave Bang Bravern

The continuously weirder and weirder thoughts on how Cybertronian strip club would look like based on Futurama, Cyberpunk, and Night runner's Magnum Bullets. "Snu-snu" bit included. It's both highly ridiculous, strangely erotic, and absolutely terrifying at the same time to the Lost Light crew.

Whenever a mech does something stupid, the human immediately reimagines the mech in Wheel of Fortune fails, or a shoving potatoes in the exhaust

Nightbeat in a noir setting or as Sherlock Holmes

Rung is "Mister Cellophane" from Chicago

Assigned character theme songs

The last bullet causes so much drama because mechs want to have really cool or badass themes, but no! The human assigns them sex or porn songs like "Life is a Highway" and "Shut Up and Drive" and "Two Trucks," or something silly like "Barbie Girl" or the opening theme to Mega XLR or the sad song on the world's smallest violin to the poor bastard that gets stuck with the engex bill at the end of the night.

[haveatthee83]

Under My Skin (Monkey D. Luffy/Reader) 3/7

Inspo: Under My Skin by Jukebox the Ghost

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Word Count: ~4.5k

Warnings: Angst, arguing, cursing, angry Luffy, discussion of death and dead relatives, descriptions of violence.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

The storm had let up during that night, and you all made quick work of digging out your house from the dunes, you were adamant about taking care of your chickens, jogging off to a large shack. There the whole crew got to see the marvel that was your six-foot chickens, all three sprinting up to you, practically purring as they came up and rubbed against you. You cooed and collected their eggs, making sure their feed was full before ushering the crew away from them, letting them loose in your high fenced property.

Zoro’s eyes sparkled as he saw you hop up on one’s back, resting a special beak bit into its mouth. Zoro was going to ride one of those chickens. And so, the swordsman was positively useless the whole rest of the day, too busy chasing down your most stubborn hen.

You used your hen to trot around your property, checking on your greenhouse, your workshop, and checking the fencing around the perimeter, and all was well. Robin and Nami were inside already helping you pack up your things, taking care to grab as many photographs as they could find.

You were hoisting a fence post back into place in the shifting sand when your eyes fell onto Luffy, he was helping Usopp and Sanji cut some of your mega-flora logs you had into firewood, lugging the massive logs onto your chopping block. He was a little grimy, sweat dripping from his brow, but he had a bright smile on his face, and that was the first time you got to see his unabashed joy that the crew spoke of. Your heart skipped a beat, an image of Ace’s sunny grin crashing through your mind, “You’ll love him!”. Your mouth went dry as you tried to rip your eyes from Luffy’s infectious, beaming grin, but you couldn’t. You wanted to soak in the image of him so happy. Your breath was stolen from you when the sound of his loud cackle met your ears. Usopp had dropped a log on his foot, and Luffy thought it was hilarious. ‘I want to make him laugh like that one day.’ You thought wistfully, ‘I really hope we can be friends.’

Just as the thought rattled through your mind, Luffy’s eyes met yours and you sucked in a gasp but gave him a small smile and wave. Luffy’s smile shrank a bit, making guilt rake over your heart, but he waved back.

That evening, the crew all moved to take you and your stuff to the Thousand Sunny, you and Robin on your hen, Usopp and Chopper having a ball using your dune buggy, Nami was fearfully clinging to the back, Sanji crammed into its side car you attached that morning, and Zoro proudly riding your other hen bareback, Luffy cackling right behind him as the chicken sprinted over the sand dunes.

When you got to the ship, Franky and Brook welcomed you with open arms, and you got right to moving in, unpacking in the girls’ room.

You heard a light knock on the door, Sanji’s voice asking to come in. You permitted him, continuing to mill about the space and place your belongings around the room. “I have a question.” He said simply.

“Shoot.”

“What do your chickens need to stay healthy?” he asked, pursing his lips.

You looked at the man, bewildered, but you laid out all of the numbers for him, feed, water, space, and cleaning.

“Mhmm, could they live on a ship?”

You gawked at the cook, “I mean I guess; I don’t know why you’d want them to.”

“You’ve seen how much food Luffy can put away! Those massive eggs could really help curve food costs, which is a shocking amount of our ship’s budget.” He explained, already dropping to his knees to beg, “Please, beautiful! I need you to say yes! I’ll take care of them! You don’t understand how much of a monster that boy’s appetite can be!”

“Fine!” you trilled incredulously. “Just-just don’t grovel like that anymore!”

Sanji popped up quickly, “Works every time.” He said resolutely, turning on his heel and walking back toward his kitchen, “Later, Beautiful!”

You gawked for a little while longer but returned to your unpacking, the rest of the process going rather smoothly.

The whole rest of the week went smoothly, to be frank. All until the day you all had decided to set sail. Because of course that’s when something would happen.

You and Usopp were taking inventory of the ship on the dock, discussing a few necessities that you didn’t have on the island, so you’d need to get them at the next stop. A siren blared on the docks, your blood running ice cold, making you usher Usopp onto the Thousand Sunny, practically shoving him onto the ship. “We gotta go! WE GOTTA GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!” you called out, pushing Usopp toward anchor, “Raise anchor! Hurry!” You sprinted over the deck, looking for any damned crewmate who knew how to steer this fucking ship, all the while yelling your head off, “WE GOTTA GO! C’MON!”

The first person to hear your shouts was Nami, popping out of the girl’s room, eyes wide with panic, “What’s going on?”

“Marines spotted headed toward the island!” you exclaimed, “We need to leave!” you urged, grabbing her by the wrist, dragging her up to the hull.

“Go find the boys!” Nami called, taking action and steering accordingly.

You nodded and sprinted back down into the guts of the ship, yelling at the top of your lungs all down the hallways until finally, Zoro, Sanji, and Franky popped out, bewildered. “GET US THE FUCK OUTTA HERE! MARINES INCOMING!” You exclaimed, pointing them up toward the dock.

“Find Luffy.” Zoro grunted, all three men pushing past you to the top deck.

You groaned at the command, but continued to dart around the ship, finally coming across your new captain in the aquarium, heaving with your hands on your knees, “Marines! We-we gotta go!” you wheezed.

Luffy looked at you like you had two heads, “Okay, but why are you dying?”

Your eye twitched a bit, “I’ve been looking for you!” you called out, practically collapsing onto the cool floor under you.

Luffy swallowed the awkward feeling he still got around you and rose, extending a hand to hoist you back up, ushering you up through the ship to the top deck, the ship already in motion away from the island.

You recovered from your fatigue and swiftly made your way to the crow’s nest, quickly blowing into your fist, forming a makeshift telescope, letting it cool and holding it to your eye. The Marines weren’t far behind, you realized with a curse. You went partway down the ladder, cupping your mouth with one hand, calling out, “MARINES AT THE STERN! EITHER SPEED UP OR GET READY FOR A FIGHT!”

Your crewmates nodded and got in their positions, Franky running to ready the rabbit screw. You quickly made your way to the back of the ship, watching the ship with a ready glare.

“Screw’s screwed!” Franky called out, “I need time to get it back in order!”

You hopped onto the railing at the back of the ship and readied yourself for a fight. ‘If those asshats make it within two hundred feet of this ship, I’m bubbling their asses.’ You thought, feeling a familiar spark flaming through you. Whispers of the word Haki swirled around you. You didn’t fully understand this sparking power, but you knew how to use it. You felt your power radiate, hot, heavy, and yellow. This deep, primal rage flowed over you, and you were reminded of your bounty moniker, The Glass Dragon.

The Monster Trio tensed; the air knocked out of the crew as your overwhelming energy drove off you in waves. Luffy snapped his head up to look at where the source of the sudden flow of Haki came from, eyes locking onto you, alone at the back of the ship, the image of your bounty poster flashing through his mind. Shivers ran up the spines of the whole crew. This was you in battle, pure rage and bloodlust radiating out from your very being.

Luffy stretched his arm up to hoist himself up onto one of the masts, gaze flitting between you and the rapidly approaching Marine vessel.

‘Too close.’ You thought with a snarl.

Luffy watched, frozen, with bated breath as you raised both of your hands to your lips in wide circle, blowing out massive yellow flames, a large molten bubble blowing out. The glowing orb grew rapidly, when the edge of the glass was just about to touch the figurehead of the ship, you let out a quick pop of breath, allowing for a hole to clear to other side, blowing more stably to make the bubble bigger and bigger, the ship having no choice but to steer straight into your trap.

When you enveloped the ship in glass, the bottom of the bubble hissed and steamed in the water, the inside unbearably hot. Luffy watched as a few Marines jumped overboard in hopes of escaping out of the hole you left, but you would allow no such thing, unable to make himself move to stop you.

You pinched off the bubble from your mouth and rolled your glowing hands over the surface of the bubble, and the other hole closed faster than Luffy thought to be possible at such a scale. They were trapped, and the water inside the bubble was steaming up, boiling, fogging up the glass as it cooled. If there was any hope of survival or escape for the Marines, you snuffed it out quickly, leaping onto your glass from the ship’s railing. You used your glowing hot hands to hold onto the smooth clear glass, climbing to the top of it.

When you hit the peak of the sphere, Luffy felt a deep pull of fear for a moment, still frozen where he hung. You dug your hands into the glass and opened up a hole in your sphere, blowing white hot flames into it, catching pieces of the ship on fire before closing up the glass again, the fire quickly stealing all the oxygen inside. You had just taken out an entire ship of Marines on your own, barely breaking a sweat.

You kicked off of the sphere, blowing flames onto your arm as you reached out, the limb turning into molten glass, wrapping back around the Thousand Sunny’s railing, leaving char in your wake. You stepped back onto the back deck, heaving with the weight of your Haki and rage, flames licking at your reformed arm and shoulders. You let out a furious roar, clutching your middle as you fell to your knees, one last push of power knocking the Straw-Hats back, making Luffy clutch his hat in place. When the weight lifted, all was still, you were still kneeling with heavy breaths, and the crew frankly was afraid to move, not processing what they had born witness to.

Slowly the shock faded, and all of the pieces fell into place in Luffy’s mind. Again, Luffy felt white hot rage fill his chest. You would not be allowed to take lives under his Jolly Roger. That was not how Luffy rolled.

Nonetheless, Luffy swung down to where you were trying to catch your breath, “What the hell did you do?” he yelled, storming up to you, the quick steps of his crew shortly behind him.

You spoke with gravel in your voice, panic and confusion in your eyes, “I defended the ship.” You huffed, scrambling onto your back.

“We don’t fucking kill people!” He hissed, hovering over you with a snarl. “That’s not what we do here!”

You shook and blinked exasperated, “How was I supposed to know?” you shrank back, crawling away from your captain’s anger. “That’s not exactly run of the mill piracy!”

“You didn’t even wait for orders!”

“You didn’t give any!”

“I never got the chance to because you jumped in too fast!”

You tensed and began to shake, defensively spitting out, “Maybe you weren’t fast enough!” you exclaimed without thinking, slapping your hand over your mouth as soon as you processed what you did.

Luffy’s rage flared, “Zoro! Take her to the women’s quarters and keep her there.” He barked, fists shaking at his side. “I need to decide a few things.”

Zoro winced back a bit at Luffy’s harsh tone, “Captain, I don’t-“

“NOW.”

The swordsman swallowed his protest and hoisted you to your feet, guiding you carefully towards the women’s quarters.

“Robin.” Luffy met her gaze with a piercing glare, “We need to talk. Meet me in the Dining Hall.”

“Captain, don’t you think-“

“I wasn’t asking.” He said resolutely. Robin nodded and zipped her lips into a tight line, walking to the dining hall. Luffy turned and growled out a few orders to the rest of the crew before following.

You sat on your new bed, hugging your knees to your chest, your hat sitting low on your head, tears stinging at your eyes, “I didn’t know.”

Zoro sighed and cradled his head in his hands, sitting across from you in one of the plush chairs from the room. “I know, but…that was…a lot,”

You clenched your jaw and threw your arms out, “You all knew that I’ve done this before! I know you went through my scrap book! What did you think I had my bounty for? My chickens?”

“No, but…Marines are people,” Zoro reasoned, taking his head out of his hands, “You didn’t even blink when you killed them, and that doesn’t sit well with Luffy.”

You shook as tears fell, “Why would I? Marines have taken everything from me! They killed my parents, making me an orphan when I was three weeks old! They killed my Uncle who raised me. They killed my brother, and my entire crew! They killed Portgas. And that’s just my direct ties. They’ve killed entire bloodlines on my island, they’ve hunted my family for generations. Because of them, I’m older than my older brother now. I’ll be older than both of my parents by my next birthday.” You ranted, feeling the tears fall faster.

Zoro felt a little pang of horror stab him in the chest, “How old are you, kid?”

“Same age as Luffy. I’m nineteen.” You spat, roughly trying to wipe the tears out of your eyes.

Zoro nodded, taking a deep breath, “You’re nineteen with how many bodies behind you?” Zoro asked pointedly.

Your eyes looked hollow when you answered, “Stopped counting after 176.” You muttered. “All Marines.”

“That’s not okay.” Zoro said simply, “You’re just a kid. You shouldn’t have had to kill anyone, let alone too many for you to keep track of. That’s fucked up, and you know it.”

“You used to be a bounty hunter! And Robin used to be an assassin! You two were the only ones on this whole crew that I’ve heard of, mostly because you’ve killed people too.” You insisted, crawling to the foot of your bed, “I don’t like it. It’s just the world we live in, and you know it!”

Zoro eyed you silently for a little while, taking in your frantic form. “You don’t have to anymore. We don’t kill unless it’s absolutely necessary and frankly, me, Luffy, and the cook take care of it most of the time.” He said calmly, “You can just be a kid, sail, fight with us and see the world. One day, Luffy’s going to find that damned One Piece and I truly believe that day will be the last any of us have to worry about Marines.”

You sobbed, “I don’t want to hurt people.” You whimpered, swiping at your eyes.

“Then don’t.”

You avoided Zoro’s eyes and whispered, “I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to try.” You curled back up into yourself, “I can’t seem to do anything right when I’m around him. He’s the last thing I have of Portgas, and he hates me. I thought we were alright, that we could even be friends eventually, and I went and fucked it all up!”

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“He doesn’t look at any of you the way he looks at me.” You mumbled, “He hates me.”

Zoro grit his teeth, “He’s just working through some shit.”

You shook your head, “Zoro, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned me in for my bounty if I so much as sneeze out of line, and at this point…I don’t think I could blame him.” You sobbed, hugging your knees tighter. “I’m a fucking monster. I-I don’t even deserve my place here. Maybe you should just leave me at the next port.”

“Bullshit.” Zoro spat, rolling his eyes, “We’re all fucked up. That’s why we’re here. Luffy finds fucked up people and he makes us better. Not perfect, but better.” You didn’t respond. Zoro sighed, “Take a nap, woman. I’ll be here, I’m gonna tell Luffy to decide what he wants to do when you wake up. He’ll have cooled off by then.”

Robin sat at her seat in the dining hall, her leg bouncing up and down as she stared deep into the wood grain of the table, and she couldn’t help but think of the letter burning a hole in her pocket.

Luffy swung the door open, stomping to the opposite end of the table, sitting across from Robin. “What are we gonna do about your little protégé in there?” Luffy asked bitterly, “Cause I’m one sneeze out of line from kicking her off the ship at the next port.”

Robin straightened her posture, speaking clearly, “I will take responsibility for not informing her of the…differences of how we do things compared to other pirate crews.” She stated, “And I do not think she will make the same mistake ever again. She is young and stuck to what she knew. Unfortunately, that had a high cost today.”

“That’s one way to put it.”

Robin winced but went on, “Please, Luffy. As your crewmate and your friend…don’t give up on her. Give her another chance.”

Luffy took a deep breath, centering himself, “I’ll let her stay, but she needs to prove that I made the right choice to keep her every day.”

Robin nodded and mulled over the conditions in her mind. She could work with that. But first, she had to come clean, “Luffy.” He hummed in acknowledgement, setting his elbows onto the table. “I have something you need to see.” She sighed deeply and took the envelope out of her pocket, sliding it across the table to her captain, “I found it lodged in one of the bunk beds at her house, and I-I read it. I shouldn’t have, but I just…I didn’t want to give it to you right away if it was going to have something in it that would…hurt you.”

Luffy’s brow knit in confusion, but he took the envelope and read the back of it.

‘To: Little Bro From: Ace’

Luffy’s heart dropped to his feet as he processed those words. Ace left him a letter? And left it in your house?

Luffy carefully took out the papers from the envelope and started to read.

‘Hey, lil dude! I’m so glad you found my favorite sibling duo other than us! These two mean a lot to me, and I’m sure you’ll love both of them. Cap is my best friend, and his little sister is a rocking pirate. (She’s the same age as you by the way) I found their little island and fell in love with the place! I’m sure you’ll love it too. The music, the fashion, the food, the girls, it’s all so cool!

I’m sorry I hid these two from you, but I swear it was for a good reason! Or...good enough, I guess? Cap’s a bit protective, and while I’m ready to be the best man at your wedding, he’s less keen on you meeting his sister. He thinks you’d be as bad as I am with keeping a girl, even though I keep telling him you’d treat any girl right, so he wanted to keep you two separated for as long as possible. Hilarious, I know. You and I both know fate works in weird ways, hence why I’m writing this! I’m sure you’ll find them both and I’m sure you’ll find this.

Now about that sister, you’re gonna love her! She’s a great cook, best I’ve ever had, and she’s the same age as you! She made me a feast for my birthday this year with all of our favorites. She’s always asking about you, worried about you off with the Dadan’s and you training on your own. She’s all caring and stuff like that. She’s super funny too! Makes my sides hurt from laughing at some of the stupid shit she’ll say. She’s also a strong fighter and can kick ass. Now, she’s not my type, and she’s way too young for me, but she is very pretty, and I think you’ll like her, and I will say I told you so at your wedding.

Hope you don’t take my little secret paradise in a bad way. Frankly, by the time you’re eighteen, I’ll probably have already taken you here. Man, I’d love to retire here. See you soon if I’m not there now, lil bro! Love ya!

-Ace.’

Luffy’s hands shook a little as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. “That’s so stupid!” he sobbed, a chuckle forcing through the shock and sorrow.

Robin winced with a smile, giggling as she said, “There’s more in the envelope.”

Luffy scoffed, but opened back up the envelope, grabbing out the square instant photo. He swallowed a bit of air when he saw what it was, coughing with red cheeks that he’d blame on the hacking fit.

Another false assumption people made about Luffy is that he was entirely uninterested in girls, dating, all of that. He was only human. And as much as you still bothered him, you were very pretty, and the photo was…kind of revealing.

Robin chuckled into her hand at his shocked hacking fit. “Alright there, Captain?” she chided. Luffy waved her off, fighting down the coughs. “Why don’t you go see her in the women’s quarters and tell her what you’ve decided. Maybe she’d like to see the letter too?” she offered softly, trying to move the captain down a new track. One with far less bumps and loops.

Luffy frowned a bit but agreed, padding out of the kitchen door and making his way to where you were being watched by his first mate. Luffy got to the door and was about to knock when he heard you speak.

“I don’t want to hurt people.”

Luffy paused, letting his hand hang at his side, his grip on the letter tightening.

“I can’t seem to do anything right when I’m around him. He’s the last thing I have of Portgas, and he hates me. I thought we were alright, that we could even be friends eventually, and I went and fucked it all up!”

Luffy recoiled a bit. Hate was…a strong word. And you really thought he was a piece of Ace? You wanted…to be friends?

“Zoro, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned me in for my bounty if I so much as sneeze out of line, and at this point…I don’t think I could blame him.”

You were crying then, fully sobbing, making Luffy want to walk in and intervene. He was mad, but he was ready to give you another chance. The sneeze comment did give him pause though, that was kinda freaky.

“I’m a fucking monster. I-I don’t even deserve my place here. Maybe you should leave me at the next port.”

You weren’t a monster. You just did some fucked up shit. A bit of annoyance at your negative self-talk bit at Luffy’s ankles.

“Bullshit. We’re all fucked up. That’s why we’re here. Luffy finds fucked up people and he makes us better. Not perfect, but better.”

You were quiet, just a few sniffles coming through the door. Luffy heard movement in the room, making him take a step back.

“Take a nap, woman. I’ll be here, I’m gonna tell Luffy to decide when you wake up what he wants to do. He’ll have cooled off by then.”

Luffy heard Zoro’s footsteps approaching the door, a deep sigh coming from his first mate. When Zoro came through the door, his brow perked up at the sight of his captain, but he closed the door silently. Luffy grabbed Zoro’s sleeve and led him away from the door, dragging him to the lawn deck.

“How much did you hear?” Zoro muttered when their feet hit grass.

“I came up at ‘I don’t want to hurt people’.” Luffy said with a huff, handing Zoro the letter. “Robin found that in her house.”

Zoro looked confused but started reading, talking through it, “You have to let her stay.”

“She can stay.”

“She’s been through a lot, and she deserves a second chance.”

“She can stay.”

“I’m serious, she fucked up but she’s willing to change.”

“Zoro.”

“What?”

“She can stay.” Luffy over annunciated.

Zoro blinked a few times to process the lack of an argument, then to process the weird ass letter he had just read. “So, your brother kept them a secret because his buddy was convinced that you’d fuck his little sister?” he asked, exasperated.

“Apparently.”

Zoro’s face blanched a bit at the photo, “Damn Ace wanted you two to bone.” He grimaced.

Luffy’s ears went red, “It’s weird, right?”

“Very.” Zoro confirmed, shoving the envelope and its contents into his captain’s hands. “Were you going to talk to her about the letter?” Luffy nodded. “Let her sleep for a little while. She looks exhausted.” Luffy itched with the need to fulfill his intended goal, but he relented, tucking the letter into his pocket. Luffy went to separate from his first mate, but Zoro stopped him, holding onto Luffy’s shirt sleeve, “Why does she bother you so much?”

Luffy was taken aback for a moment, thinking hard to find his words. “You know I don’t like needless killing.”

Zoro scoffed, rolling his eyes, “I know that. I’m not talking about that, that was justified. You’re allowed to be upset about that kind of thing, obviously. But-just…” Zoro huffed as he tried to articulate his bouncing thoughts, “Take that out of the equation entirely, even after you two kinda chilled out, you just…you look at her like she’s the one who killed Ace. It’s eating her up. She wants to be your friend.”

Luffy sighed, “She’s just-I don’t-ugh!” he stammered, “Something about her just…she gets under my skin, and I don’t know why anymore.” Luffy went on, using his hands to illustrate his frustration, “At first, I knew why I didn’t like her, I had a reason.”

“A stupid reason.”

“But I had a reason! Then we…talked and I felt like that reason was in the past, that I could move on, but now I still feel this same…anger when I look at her. It’s like if she breathes too hard, I’ll snap and yell at somebody, and I don’t know why.” Luffy explained, knocking his fist against his forehead, “I don’t like the way she makes me feel.”

Zoro frowned, thinking, “Could you…try and get along with her? I mean, it’s not even like how me and the cook are. Like, you’re her captain now and captains shouldn’t be beefing with their crew when they’re just…being themselves.” He said, perking up when an idea popped into his head, “Let’s make a deal, okay?”

Luffy’s face scrunched in confusion, “Eh?”

“Make a deal with me.” Zoro went on, clapping a hand onto his captain’s shoulder, “If she starts to piss you off, walk away, find me or-or Robin or something and we’ll help you calm down, you can rant and complain, or whatever you need and we’ll be there and listen until you’re ready to go back out and do your thing, okay?”

Luffy mulled it over, “Okay,” he agreed, head bobbing as he thought, “Even if it’s stupid?” “Even if it’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard.”

[cityof2morrow]

Pergola 026

Published: 1-14-2024 | Updated: 1-30-2024 (MMAT properties, NON-CRITICAL) SUMMARY “looks good in parks, on patios, over promenades and pools, and just about anywhere in need of a bit more cool…” Need to add some flavor to your spaces? This 1-tile pergola is just under 2 stories high and visible from hood/lot view.

DETAILS Requires all EPs/SPs. §1000 | Build > Architecture | 932 poly You need the BBNiche1Master (Buggybooz, 2012) and Plain Glass meshes from the Repository Pack (Simmons, 2023). This object is decorative only so rain/snow will fall through it. DOWNLOAD (choose one)from SFS | from MEGA

CREDITS Thanks: UV Mapping Tips (Frac, 2024). SimCrafters, Sim Shenanigans, Sketchfab, and Kit Kat Crew communities! Sources: 026 – Pergola Caracol (El Diseno Co, 2019 via Creative Commons Attribution), Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), EA/Maxis, Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik).

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FLASHBACK FRIDAY WITH DAX & SISKO ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE -- HAPPY "SCI-FI FRI."

PIC(S) INFO: Mega Spotlight on assorted Television stills of Lieutenant Jadzia Dax and Captain Benjamin Sisko aboard the USS Enterprise, from "Trials and Tribble-ations," the 104th episode of the American science fiction television series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

The sixth episode of the fifth season, it first aired on November 4, 1996 and was written as a tribute to the original series of "STAR TREK," in the 30th anniversary year of the show.

EPISODE SYNOPSIS: "When Temporal Investigations arrives on Deep Space 9, Sisko recounts how he and the crew of the Defiant traveled back in time to the 23rd century to prevent the assassination of Captain James T. Kirk during the original Enterprise's mission to Space Station K-7."

Sources: https://dashorst.github.io/notsorandomtrek/ds9-s05.html, Wikipedia, IMDb, Memory Alpha Fandom, Pinterest, various, etc...

[roncheg]

Part 3 of ATEEZ Star Trek AU

Chief engineer (one of two chief engineers; the other one is, of course, Woo - they cannot best each other and are locked in a perpetual battle for the title of the bestest engineer ever) - Yunho - he vehemently upholds an image of a Good Boy™ (but he's the devil in disguise, oh yes he is^^). Senior Helmsman - Mingi -  a genius pilot/navigator; secretly the heir of a mega-rich family from some really conservative space colony; he was afraid that his family wouldn't accept his marriage with Yunho, so he ran away. The crew doesn't know about the heir thing or the marriage, everyone just thinks he lives with Yunho as “best friends” who aren’t fooling anybody (The Captain & Seonghwa know). One time someone overheard Mingi saying that he is married; there is a ship-wide betting pool - who is he married to and does Yunho know about it?

Part 1 Part2 Part4 plotbunny

[digital-yuri-saga]

WALL•E and Unregulated Capitalism

So, we all know that the second half of WALL•E (Pixar, 2008) shows that apparently, in 700 years, the human race is all fat, “disabled” and “lazy”, right?

Except, the problem is, they didn’t get that way on their own.

WALL•E’s main message, in my mind, is that if left unchecked, capitalism will take away literally everything. And, you can see that: The Earth has been practically destroyed by pollution, and the human race has to live in a giant outer space cruise ship, confined to their reclining hover chairs and watching their holographic screens all day while they idly sip on their food, all Buy-N-Large(TM) brand.

What’s more - the tasks the humans would normally do, such as housekeeping, putting on makeup, teaching their babies everything they need to know to be able to Human properly, even piloting the damn ship - all of it is performed by robots who were made to take those tasks out of the humans’ hands.

But is that really it? No.

Part 1 - The First Half

At the beginning of the movie, we see WALL•E performing his programmed directive - to “clean up” the Earth by compacting all the trash on the ground into huge towers, and nothing else. There are dozens, if not hundreds of other WALL•E line robots who perform the same task, and they seem to be self-sufficient - they have their own shelter, they are solar-powered so they don’t have to rely on an outside source of energy, and they don’t seem to need anything else.

And then a dust storm happens and all of the robots are damaged except for one, the titular protagonist and the last of his kind.

The movie skips to 700 years later, at which point WALL•E seems to have gained some kind of individuality. He has plenty of spare parts to keep himself alive if needed, and more than that - He likes to collect things that the humans have left behind. He collects everything from twinkies to lighters to even VHS tapes, and he seems to love all of it - all the things that humans loved, that were left behind when they left Earth.

While we see WALL•E’s current daily life, we also get some context: The humans have left Earth as it is, and are now on a giant ship somewhere. This is revealed through an advertisement from Buy-N-Large, which was seemingly a prominent corporation in the world beforehand. They seem to have had control of everything, actually - we see an “Ultra-store”, gas station, and an unholy amount of other Buy-N-Large branded things, as well as enough advertisements to make the average person irate within seconds.

At some point, this company - who knows what they originally were - monopolized so much of everything that it had basically taken over what we see of Earth. Everything, everywhere was Buy-N-Large, and nothing else. There are even corporate-sponsored newspapers - promoting the propaganda they want regular people to hear.

We then get some blatant exposition in the form of an advertisement, fitting for the world as we see in the movie.

“Too much garbage in your face? There’s plenty of space out in space! BnL Starliners leaving each day, we’ll clean up the mess while you’re away.”

The mega-corporation was advertising vacations to the regular people, presumably also non-stop, in addition to the propaganda that the Earth was in trouble and everything sucked. Why not have a little escapism?

“The jewel of the BnL fleet - The Axiom! Spend your five-year cruise in style. Maided on 24-hours-a-day by our fully automated crew, while your captain and auto-pilot try to course for non-stop entertainment, fine dining…”

Here we get to see a glimpse of what humans looked like before they left - perfectly “normal”. There does seem to be some diversity in the people shown, too, though they are clearly actors who were likely cherry-picked and paid to promote this ship. I don’t see a single fat person in the ad, which is more likely implied to be because of the in-universe corporation choosing only the most conventionally attractive people to promote their product.

“…and with our all-access Hover Chairs, even grandma can join the fun! There’s no need to walk!”

Also, it seems that at least a small part of the intention of the hover chairs was to be a mobility aid for those who wouldn’t be able to get around a giant-ass cruise ship on foot. But, they weren’t just advertised to the elderly / disabled / people that needed them, they were advertised to everyone.

Everyone that could afford a “5-year” vacation on a giant cruise ship, anyway.

We don’t see what happens to those who may not be able to afford, or even get to, one of these ships. Presumably, they were left behind too. Would a giant capitalist regime let people on that couldn’t pay them? Doubtful.

After this, we see WALL•E discover the plant - a glimmer of hope. Something finally grew on Earth. And then, immediately after, a probe - presumably from BnL to try and find evidence that the Earth was sustainable for living - lands, carrying several EVE units, also presumably made by BnL. One of them is deployed from this ship, and she is activated and begins scanning her surroundings for life.

WALL•E follows this unit around and EVE pays him no mind, because he seemingly doesn’t have what she’s looking for. She is eventually frustrated with not being able to “complete her purpose” to the point of taking it out on her surroundings. The two finally exchange formalities, and once another dust storm passes by, WALL•E takes her back to shelter.

EVE seems to fall in love with all of WALL•E’s objects, just like he did, and then he shows her the plant. Detecting life, EVE’s programming overrides her free will and collects it as a sample, then forcibly shutting her down. WALL•E stays by her side the entire time until the ship comes back for her. He hitches a ride on the ship, not wanting her to be taken away forever, and it leaves for space with him, docking on the Axiom.

We see here that there is an immense amount of space junk orbiting Earth, and that BnL was even attempting to colonize the Moon.

After the EVEs are unloaded, we see some of the robot crew of the Axiom, who strictly conform to their directive. And, as soon as anyone steps out of line, police bots are summoned - and one of them sees the plant that EVE has found and takes her away.

Part 2 - The Second Half

After some robot hijinks, we see the state of humans 700+ years after they left Earth - All of them have become fat and seemingly unable to provide for themselves to a ridiculous extent. They are constantly bombarded by ads from the screens in front of them while the robots seemingly do everything else. Several generations have passed since the original humans boarded the ship. The robotic teachers are indoctrinating kids from a very young age about BnL - quote, “B is for Buy-n-Large, your very best friend.” The megacorp wants people to be dependent on them for everything - why else would they herd everyone into areas they have full control over?

Keep in mind that while these humans all seem to be fat and hover-chair bound - this seems to be enforced. As stated earlier, BnL wants people to be hopelessly dependent on them, because that’s how they stay in power.

WALL•E breaks one person’s immersion, and she looks around - she doesn’t immediately go back to what she’s looking at on the screen, and even helps WALL•E. She doesn’t go back to looking at her screen, either. She apparently didn’t even know the Axiom had a pool, even though she “could have” looked over and seen it at any time. That is how much control BnL had over these people’s lives.

EVE is brought directly to the cockpit of the ship, where the Auto-Pilot AI notices she has found a plant and wakes up the Captain. The Captain himself is victim to the same automation as everyone else. He simply goes through the motions, and then changes the time for everyone on the ship. After his morning announcements, in which another ad is shown, EVE is reactivated.

We then see the protocol for organic life being found - and a pre-recorded message from the then-current CEO of BnL. In this, he mentions that the microgravity of the ship could have caused some “slight bone loss”, an understatement, which leads me to wonder - Was the CEO telling the truth about the passengers’ state being due to the conditions outside the ship? Or was the complete immersion, to the point where the Captain of the ship remarks he didn’t know there was a jogging track, the real cause for their current state?

During a “why can’t I voice activate the book :(“ joke, WALL•E and EVE reunite, and EVE immediately rushes to hide him from the police bot and tries to warn him of something related. Hmm.

Once EVE is opened up, the plant seems to be gone somehow. EVE is deemed to be ‘defective’, and sent to the repair ward. This will be important later.

We then see the Captain analyze a sample of dirt that came from WALL•E, and out of curiosity, he then begins to look up topics related to Earth. Knowledge that he didn’t already have. Knowledge that Buy-N-Large did not educate him on, because they wanted him to be just as hopelessly dependent on them as the others.

We are then taken to the “repair ward” - where the “defective” robots go. Here we see robots with all sorts of erratic behavior, behavior that puts them out of line. When looking at these robots as if they were human, this can also be interpreted as stereotypical mental illness that this repair ward is trying to “cure”. WALL•E promptly causes a scene, accidentally freeing all of these robots, who parade him around and alert the attention of the police bots. The robots, meant to serve the passengers of the ship, are governed by their own police state.

WALL•E and EVE are framed as rebels, and they go down to the escape pod bay, where we can see a police robot deposit the plant necessary for the humans return to Earth into an escape pod so it isn’t found.

The police robots are programmed not only to enforce compliance on the robots, but to use deception to keep the humans as they are - hopelessly dependent on Buy-N-Large.

WALL•E goes after the pod, and is shot into space along with it. We then see that the pod is set for self-destruct, implying the robot’s intention was to destroy the plant. To kill any remaining hope that humans could return to Earth.

The plant is saved and WALL•E and EVE have some romantic moments in space, and we come back to the woman from earlier, who still has not turned her screen back on. She is still admiring the view of space from the giant windows as the others cruise by, immersed in their screens. She accidentally breaks another person’s immersion, the man from earlier, and they connect over seeing WALL•E outside.

We cut back to the cockpit, and the Captain is still doing research into everything he’s missed about Earth. The Auto-Pilot tries to get him to stop by setting the ship to “nighttime mode”, but he doesn’t listen and continues researching. He does not blindly follow the AI. The other two humans seem to rebel some, too, splashing pool water at each other with their feet, and then at a robot when it tells them not to.

WALL•E and EVE sneak back into the ship, and EVE tries to sneak through a trash chute back to the cockpit in order to deliver the plant. The Captain is overjoyed, but that turns to confusion and disappointment when he sees EVE’s memories of Earth. But, that doesn’t last very long, since he has that hope for a better Earth - the plant. They have to go back.

The Captain calls the Auto-Pilot down, who immediately tries to take back the plant, and when the Captain refuses to give the plant to it, it shows him a video - from the same Buy-N-Large CEO. And the CEO gives the message,

“…so, just stay the course. Um, rather than try and fix this problem, it’ll be easier for everyone to remain in space.”

”Rather than try and fix this problem, it’ll be easier for everyone to remain in space.”

Not that it would be impossible to solve.

It would be easier.

All of this - the programming the Auto-Pilot and police bots conformed to that led them to use deception to keep humans in space, the completely sedentary, fully immersed-in-ads states the humans were led into, the reason they have been up there for 700 years - all of it was because of the opinion of one man. One CEO. One CEO who decided that it was easier if humans never regained their autonomy, that it was easier if they never got back to a state where they could fend for themselves. He wanted this.

The Captain once again rebels against the AI from Buy-N-Large.

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing! That’s all I’ve ever done! That’s all everyone on this blasted ship has ever done! NOTHING!”

“I don’t WANT to survive! I want to live!”

The Captain - no, the humans don’t actually want this. And when they are given even a scrap of their agency back, by chance through WALL•E or otherwise - they want to do things their way. Not the way Buy-N-Large wants them to.

As soon as the Captain plainly denies the Auto-Pilot, it and the police bots still under Buy-N-Large’s will immediately go against the Captain. The plant is taken from his arms and thrown into the trash chute. And who manages to climb up the chute just then, but WALL•E. He tries to keep the Auto-Pilot from getting the plant, and the Auto-Pilot resorts to damaging another robot to get what “it” wants.

What Buy-N-Large wants.

Both of the robots are tossed down the trash chute, and the Auto-Pilot forcibly takes control of the ship.

But hope is not lost - WALL•E and EVE reawaken in the trash area, and they realize that WALL•E can be repaired if they get home. So, the two of them fly out of the trash area, going straight for the area where they will deposit the plant and turn the ship around.

The Auto-Pilot catches wind of this, and sends every police bot available after them. The Captain helps by hijacking the comms, telling WALL•E and EVE what to do. The “defective” robots from before help the two, and the Captain stages his own rebellion by causing a distraction. He manages to press the button to launch the return mode of the ship, and everybody’s immersion is broken at the same time. They are herded onto the same deck, and see reality for themselves - the Captain is struggling against his own robot. The Auto-Pilot ends up tilting the ship to get the Captain off of it, and because of this all of the humans fall out of their chairs and begin sliding helplessly downhill.

Mind you, these people have just been broken out of their entranced state induced by Buy-N-Large - likely for the first time. They may never have moved a muscle outside of changing what they were watching, or grabbing a cup - all because Buy-N-Large wanted it that way. They have all just been given their agency back for the first time. And, after the humans are almost killed by transportation vehicles because of the Auto-Pilot, and WALL•E ends up squashed in the plant deposition chamber because of the Auto-Pilot, the Captain stands up for himself.

Literally.

It may not be true for every single human on the ship, but they have always had the ability to stand up for themselves, literally and figuratively. Buy-N-Large - the mega-corporation - tried to snuff all of that autonomy out.

The Captain is able to walk - albeit with difficulty - over to the Auto-Pilot and turn it off, and the ship is turned back upright. Some of the other humans can be seen standing up too in this scene, so these specific humans may not have needed mobility aids - this is unclear. But, either way, they, along with everyone else, were forced into them, necessary or not, for Buy-N-Large’s purposes.

Together, everyone manages to pass the plant to EVE, who tosses it into the deposition chamber. The course is set for Earth, and the humans fall over again as the ship launches at hyper-speed towards its destination. The Axiom lands on Earth, and the humans step out onto its surface for the first time.

One notable thing I see in the background at this point - you can see one human walking with the help of a robot as a mobility aid. Despite their autonomy being returned, some of the humans may still need mobility aids, and that’s okay. That’s normal.

WALL•E is repaired, he and EVE have their happy ending, and, meanwhile, the humans set out to rebuild. The scene pans backwards to see the progress the humans have made - and a lot more plants. And then the movie ends.

The credits show more of this progress, with the humans making progress as the visuals “evolve”, seen with the evolution of art - likely not to imply that the humans were in a “devolved” state, but to emphasize just how much was being done - and, hopefully, the influence of Buy-N-Large is gone forever.

Part 3 - Afterword

Disney-Pixar’s WALL•E is not about how, if left to their own devices, humans will become lazy and ruin the planet.

WALL•E is about how, if left unregulated, capitalism will strip away the freedoms humans have outside of their interactions with their products, to the point where they are hopelessly dependent on them, because nothing else exists.

We don’t see very much of the more controversial parts of humanity in WALL•E - homelessness, real (not artificially induced) disability, the differing opinions of humans - because capitalism in that world has tried (and almost succeeded!) in stamping those out.

Sometimes, a narrative will not include everything that exists to tell itself.

I believe, for a movie made in 2008 (16 years ago, almost two decades at this point!), WALL•E makes a great point. That point is not about the hopelessness of humanity, but the dangers of capitalism.

Was it insensitive, in retrospect, to portray that by way of making all of humanity fat and “lazy”?

Yes, but they were never “lazy” in the first place. They were made that way through several hundred years of indoctrination by the corporation - the capito-fascist regime that had control over their very existence. As soon as they gained their autonomy back, they used it to stand up for themselves - taking the “hard way” out.

Does it demonize mobility aids through this? No. The hover-chairs used as mobility aids throughout the movie were partially intended to be mobility aids for those who needed it - Buy-N-Large abused those to give themselves another layer of control over the humans. We also see a human still using a mobility aid at the end of the movie, a walker, when everyone steps off the ship.

Would this movie hold up to 2024’s standards for fat representation? It definitely seems like this isn’t the case. But, the movie was made in 2008. It would be impossible to properly hold a film to standards that came into play after it was created.

TL;DR: WALL•E doesn’t think humans will end up lazy - but they may be subjected to capitalist fascism.

[wastingmytimehere]

AU where Gortash is a space gangster harbouring alien contraband and selling it on to mega corps to fund his criminal empire.

And on one important job he is tipped off to intercept a ship full of alien sonic weapons but finds it to be oddly without any crew…

Once he hauls off the guns and gets back on board his ship its ai detects an unknown presence and bit by bit his crew get picked off…

By an unrecognised alien, a giant white lizard with menacing red lasers for eyes.

The Dark Urge

But Gortash has a new idea, a better one and it involves using this alien as a new weapon, all he has to do is tame it (or break it).

[tumblrisweird]

Crash Course on Lancer, the best TTRPG

I've been obsessed with Lancer lately, so I thought I'd put together a quick and dirty crash course on the key aspects of the system so people could see if it interests them.

Basics:

Lancer is a ttrpg system "centered on shared narratives, customizable mechs, and the pilots who crew them"

It is co-created by the author of the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons, who also provides some of the official illustrations

The mech design is primarily inpired by Titanfall, but there is a wide variety and plenty of options available to suit your taste.

Mechanically, it's most similar to D&D 5e, but with major improvements (imho).

The game and community are super inclusive of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people.

Lore:

Lancer takes place in our universe, but several thousand years in the future

in the near future, human society collapses due to all the shit going on. ten generation ships are sent out to colonize space, but contact with them is soon lost as everything on Earth goes tits up and humanity enters a dark age for almost 5000 years

Eventually, humanity on Earth comes back, creates Union, and returns to space and tries to contact those generation ships, a few of which have founded new civilizations in deep space. Relations with these civilizations doesn't go great.

Union also finds a weird super-robot-mind-thing old humanity built on Mars, which lets them predict the future. After about a thousand years, it ends up producing a sort of super-AI called RA (I will get into this later).

The above event also lets Union develop FTL tech (using something called Blinkspace).

In the process of expansion, humanity runs into its first (and so far only) sentient alien race. Things go bad very quickly. The people in charge do very bad things and for this end up being overthrown. This is also when mechs first start getting used for combat.

A new committee in charge of Union takes over and has a strong anti-colonial, humanitarian ethic. This however is harder to reinforce the further you are from Earth (now called Cradle by some)

Some of the still independent civilizations and mega-corporations get in some fights. Union tries to keep the peace. This is where we are now.

AI

So there are two different types of AIs in Lancer.

The first kind are regular AIs which can act human but don't really have free will. They can be found all over the place.

The second kind are called NHPs (Non-Human Persons). These (mostly) came from that super-AI called RA I mentioned above. Their basic consciousness is "paracausal" (i.e. magic), so they have to be "shackled" to be able to even think like a regular human. They can often do really powerful things. They are hard to get and heavily regulated because they become really dangerous if they get unshackled.

Player Characters

Character creation in Lancer is incredibly fun. There's two main aspects of a character: the pilot and the mech

Pilots

The pilot is who you control during narrative scenes. While they can do combat, they generally are not suited for it, especially against mechs.

You can choose a background for your character, but this is purely flavor.

You get some "triggers", which are different skills you get bonuses in to use in narrative scenes. Default triggers include things like "lead or inspire", "read a situation", "apply fists to faces", "hack or fix" and many others. You can also create custom triggers (with your GM's permission). These are what you use for narrative scenes. You start with +2 to 4 different triggers and get another +2 at each level

You also get to choose things like armor, pilot weapons, and three pieces of equipment.

One expansion also adds a mechanic called "Bonds" which are like character archetype powers. These encourage you to roleplay more.

Mechs

You also have a certain number of "Talents" which help in mech combat. Each talent has 3 tiers and focus on things like using certain weapons or fighthing certain ways (e.g. grappling, spotting, hacking, etc.). You start with three tier-1 talents and get another tier each level.

Levels are referred to as "License Levels". You start at LL0, but this doesn't mean you can't do anything. You have access to the starter mech frame, which is a very good all-rounder. You may also have access to two more if you have certain expansions.

Mechs have two main sets of health: actual HP and "Heat". You get heat mostly by being hacked or using heat-generating weapons. Each player mech also has 4 points each of Structure and Stress, which correspond to these two sets of health. When your HP hits zero or your Heat goes above its max, you lose a point of Structure or Stress, respectively. You will also suffer other consequences like status effects or losing parts of your mech. If either hits zero, your mech gets destroyed (though this doesn't necessarily kill your pilot, and you can rebuild your mech). Also having 50% or more of your max heat means you're in the Danger Zone, which may let you do certain things.

Mechs will have a certain number of SP (system points), which you use to add different systems, equipment that gives you abilities and bonuses.

You also get to put points into 4 different "Mech Skills": Hull, which affects HP and physical stability, Agility, which affects speed and evasion (the thing enemies roll against to hit (most of the time)), Systems, which affects hacking ability and SP, and Engineering, which affects Heat management and ammo. You get another point each level.

There's other stats as well like Armor, Sensors, E-Defense, and Save Target, but I won't get into them now.

Mech's also have a certain number of weapon mounts, which determine what kind of weapons you can attach to it. The four weapon sizes are Auxiliary, Main, Heavy, and Superheavy. Most of the mount types match a specific weapon size. The only exception is Flex, which lets you mount one Main or two Aux. Also for a Superheavy, you need a heavy mount plus one other mount.

Player mechs come in 4 sizes: 1/2 (basically a suit of power armor), 1 (just big enough where a person could sit in the chest cockpit), 2 (much bigger than a person, about the size of heavier Titanfall mechs), and 3 (fucking huge, though maybe not quite as big as the mechs in Pacific Rim). NPCs can be even bigger. :)

This set of memes is a great way to get the idea behind several mechs.

While most mechs have a default appearance, they're highly customizable, and there are a couple of exceptions. Most Horus mechs have no default appearance, and the starting mech, the Everest, has no canon appearance, meaning it can look however you want.

EDIT: forgot to mention, every mech has a Core Power that you can use once per mission (usually). It typically gives you access to a really cool weapon or ability or otherwise powers up the mech for the rest of the scene.

Levels/Classes

Ever notice how in 5e, multiclassing kinda sucks unless you have a very specific thing in mind? That's not at all true in Lancer!

In addition to the stuff mentioned above, each LL you get to gain one level in the license for a certain mech! You can think of these as similar to classes.

Each level gets you two specific pieces of equipment from that license, generally either weapons or systems. Additionally, at the second level for a license, you get access to the mech frame.

Each license only has 3 levels to get, so you are very much encouraged to mix and match. Additionally, you gain levels at a more even rate than in 5e. Basically it's a milestone system I will explain later.

There are 4 manufacturers to choose from, each with a default of 7 licenses to choose from (more with expansions). ISP-N mechs are sturdy, reliable, and mundane. Smith-Shimano mechs are sleek, agile, and precise. Harrison Armory mechs are powerful and good at dealing with/using Heat. Horus mechs are extra weird and fucked-up.

Each session will generally consist of a few different "scenes", often including one combat scene. There may also be one "downtime" scene (usually at the beginning or end), which is sorta like a short rest. You can make limited repairs and change out equipment, as well as pursuing personal goals. A few sessions together constitute a "mission". After a mission, you get a level and can do a full repair, which is like a long rest. Get all your resources back and can completely rebuild a destroyed mech (or make a new one).

Action Economy

Each turn the player can take the following actions:

One Protocol (generally granted by a system, only at the beginning of the turn)

A standard movement, which can be taken in part or all at once.

Two Quick Actions or one Full Action

Quick Actions are things like Boost (take another full movement), Skirmish (attack with one weapon mount), Hack, Hide, Grapple, Ram, and Lock On.

Full actions are things like Stabilize (clear all heat or heal HP), Disengage, and Barrage (attack with two mounts or one Superheavy mount).

One Reaction, which can be taken on other characters turns when activated. The two default reactions are Overwatch (skirmish against an enemy that starts a movement in your threat range, which is 1 by default but more with some melee weapons or CQB weapons) and Brace (reduce damage from an incoming attack and be harder to hit, at the cost of losing actions on your next turn).

One Overcharge, where you take increasing amounts of heat to get another quick action.

There may also be certain systems or talents that grant certain Free Actions under certain circumstance

Combat

Combat in general is very fun, though a full round of turns may take half an hour or more. In my experience, most combat scenes are over within 8 rounds.

Using your systems and abilities in cooperation with your teammates is very important to surviving.

Of note is that getting advantage on a roll is much rarer than in 5e.

Much more common is Accuracy or Difficulty. Each point of Accuracy is an extra d6 you roll to add as the accuracy bonus. You pick the highest of your accuracy rolls to add as the bonus. Difficulty is the same except you are subtracting the number from the roll instead of adding it. For example, Lock-On lets you add an accuracy to a roll, but soft and hard cover add 1 and 2 difficulty respectively. Also points of accuracy and difficulty cancel each other out, which reduces the amount of rolling you have to do. So if your weapon has +1 accuracy but your target is behind hard cover, you roll the attack with 1 difficulty.

Resources:

you can get the core rulebook (minus npc info and detailed lore) for free here

here's the official fan-run discord server. it is very helpful for finding games that are looking for players and talking about the game.

You can use the official app called COMP/CON to build and manage characters. I fucking love making character in this. It makes things super easy and fun. You can also download .lcp files for various expansions to play around with the stuff they add as well. These are available for free for the official expansion, meaning players can play with extra stuff from expansions without needing to buy them.

In conclusion, Lancer is a great system that you should give a shot to if any of the above sounds appealing.

[space-blue]

Alien thoughts and concepts.

Alien movie concept: Highly intelligent, well trained, low drama professionals in an alien movie. They take all the precautions, don't trigger any of the easier things like black goo dust or mega sus eggs. They scan everything, use robots, have good protocols in place to work with their android, etc.

Maybe the focus could be over the relationship between the synthetics and the humans, since the topic seems so dear to the franchsie, with the alien serving as a stress point that changes the dynamic and forces people to the edge of their humanity.

And I think we can still get gore and screaming and messy deaths, but pros simply wouldn't make a mistake like snorting the local fauna on a cigarette break.

You know, maybe it's a military advance crew here to establish the first base around David's new colony. And unbeknownst to them, and almost everyone in the colony, he's been running his little fucked up experiments for decades, and the newcomers are fresh blood to test his babies on, meaning they're dealing with forceful invasion?

IDK man. I'm 4 films into the alien franchise and a liiiiiittle weeee bit tired of the "people goof while exploring and chaos ensues on spaceship" concept. Alien Romulus and Alien stand out, but I'd love to see a more in depth, slow paced, unsettling horror play out. Less about packing as many chestbursters in as possible and more about the cosmic horror of having found some sort of hostile limiter.

I'm especially bummed when humans see explicit proof of intelligent alien life and go 'mmmmm'okay.' like come on, this isn't Star Wars. In Covenant the *religious* dude had nothing to say about the ancient ruins they took refuge in, clearly created by a fully humanoid species? REALLY?

Say, give me a story about a 5 people, 3 humans, 2 synthetics, operating a small space relay. They're like lighthouse keepers in space, and all the quadrant's news goes through them.

And tensions climb as more and more colonies in a nearby systems go dark. Distress signals start singing through the radio, but due to the distance, it's already too late to help. And the problem seems to be spreading.

And then a refugee ship pings them. It's on their way, and needs an emergency stop because they aren't kitted out for long distances.

They have no reason not to help them, but they will be cold blooded and professional about this. The synthetics will go in as they can't catch any illness.

Maybe we can deal with aliens who have learned to be sneaky. Who don't take the more brutal and animalistic approach only. Like imagine the horror if one of them cut themselves on purpose to vent a segment of the ship? Imagine if they showed more of a willingness to stalk and ambush?

[nqueso-emergency]

“I know for sure that some people praising you and your work over here are running their mouths about you and other crew members on private group chats”

Uh… why would Peter (I assume the location scout) care about what a bunch of strangers nobodies say about him in private? What is this? Tattling to your elementary classmate about their best friend secretly hating them? Big freaking deal lol

And how would you know what they talk about if the group chats are private? Did you make it all up or did you send in spies to infiltrate those spaces just to gain info on fans that like different things? I don’t know which one is more unhinged.

Speaking of “looking bad”, let’s not even get into who actually sent those death threats and CSA fics, or if it was a “false flag operation”. If you have eyes and skim through the comment section, only one group constantly tries to bring up drama unrelated to the crew’s work.

It's giving mega @lover-of-mine vibes

[bubblewonderabyss]

I've started a new universe on a side file, my steam file was getting a bit chaotic and internally inconsistent so I've opted to use a more slimmed down mod pack with better canon compliance to Celestial Currents for this one. I'm also forcing myself to play one character at a time so I don't ADHDtrap myself into never finishing anything, so all I currently have is Titabec

Here's a look at the ship, it's more or less complete. I decided to go one size smaller than the max because I wanted it too feel big for such a small crew, but not too too big. It's meant to look professional in a relaxed way, most of the space is geared toward Titabec's love of tinkering

Next up is the Obligatory Base Build for farming and storage and whatnot (inspired by a certain piece of floran inspection dialogue)

Then there's a small colony. I wanted somewhere to chill and read so I made this coffee shop. I hadn't found a toilet or sink yet so I had to improvise

Just to the right is a little fishing shack I threw together, where I eventually caught every ocean fish

There's also this boat I have mixed feelings about (I suck at boat)

Left of the coffee shop is this library aquarium type thing, it's too large to place a colony deed in unfortunately

The hylotl npc that lived in this house died so I threw up a colony deed and gave them a farm to supply the restaurant with local produce

Mods used: Felin, avali triage, the saturnians, orcana, maple32, betabound, k'rakoth, frontier expansion, foodie's furniture pack, nuggubs' mega mod, aging alien alcohols addon, item frame, tiny items prop pack, project ancient cosmos