#my take on the inventor

[heavenb3nt]

The inventor (from the destination wars) is a genuinely interesting take on the early master. I have my own takes on him, since I don’t think big finish did the concept justice

It makes sense to me if we put him at the first regeneration, after theta left gallifrey and koschei left too. After all his personal shenanigans with kidnapping cia agents and such, maybe he went on some of his own adventures before ending up there. Maybe he had a few years, a few decades, maybe more, of doing his own thing. Trying to distract himself, fucking around, maybe he’s trying to find theta, etc. And then he crashes on destination, maybe he tried his dematerialisation circuit again, maybe something else broke. As he’s trying to repair things, he ends up sharing some time lord technology with the citizens. They’re blown away, and understandably revere him for providing them with this, even though it’s nothing to koschei.

He quickly realises he can get these people to literally worship him with almost no effort whatsoever, and that’s far too tempting for him to resist. It’s not like he has anyone or anything grounding him, and he can tell himself he’s not really hurting anyone. So, he shares more, he personally engineers solutions to the planet’s problems. He graduated the prydonian academy, it’s no big deal to him. But to them, he’s saving them. Not only saving, but providing comparative luxury they couldn’t have conceived of.

The people adore him, and he loves the attention. But obviously it’s not going to be enough for long, it never is for him. So he sets himself up away from everyone, he’s not a people person and seeing everyone’s joy has become something he resents, since it’s not something he can share. He wants to keep his prestige though, so he uses his technology and influence to set up intense surveillance, not that he needed to, they love him regardless. He’s their saviour. But generations go by, and now no one’s ever seen him. He’s a myth, a genuine deity to these people. Hiding himself away in a control room, watching generations live out their lives in worship of him, and feeling absolutely nothing. Because they’re not theta, all the worship and adoration the world means nothing to him if he still hasn’t seen his best friend since he left gallifrey.

So he sets up one of the screens, using a piece of time lord technology that can be wired into your memories, to play on repeat his memories of the academy and his time with theta. Over and over again, the same years. It’s the only screen he watches now, he’s not interested in keeping watch of destination. But they still worship him, while he continues to rot alone watching his memories surrounding by technology that can save worlds.

Unfortunately that’s not what big finish had in mind but whatevs

[jellyowllen]

[pinacoladamatata]

something something take moments of happiness where you can find them. the world will take the rest.

[mollysunder]

I know Heimerdinger's Christian Linke's favorite character, and I sort of tolerated it in s1, but now it feels like things are a little too indulgent. Heimerdinger gets to team up with Ekko to launder his reputation through Ekko and the Firelights. Heimerdinger gets the first narrative game and second character teaser in the promotional cycl. Heimerdinger gets to SING A SONG that's included on the s2 Arcane soundtrack (Spin the Wheel).

Maybe I'd be less annoyed if the show at least did more to acknowledge Heimerdinger's failings as a leader, but his character description can't even do that. This is how the official Arcane website describes Heimerdinger:

"Heimerdinger warned the Piltover Council about the dangers of using magic without tangible solutions for safeguarding its use. Learning from his mistakes with Jayce, Heimerdinger inspires Ekko to keep looking for a solution and works with him to solve the problem, instead of just offering advice."

That's not Heimerdinger's main problem! The problem is the fact he's the person most singularly responsible for the state of Zaun and Piltover. It feels like the show and the cast are just dancing around the fact that Heimerdinger technically has the highest body count in the show (Day of Ash, pollution, extreme poverty, etc). The one time someone puts him to task (Jayce), the show makes it seem like Jayce is wrong or overstepped, and yeah he did do it for Viktor's sake, but Jayce was right! Heimerdinger's bad at his job, he shouldn't be in a leadership position if he's a bad leader.

[m0rninglatte]

[Spoiler warning for recent Skybound lore. Watch it first. /nf /lh]

Ashril, Atlas and Vast all went to Brightstep and all they got was a t-shirt that said:

Came to Brightstep for a new life,which I did, but i lost my boyfriend in the process of that, and all I got was this shirt.

[stiltonbasket]

Half the reason that calamitous beauty wwx is getting so much attention is that he's honestly a nice person? Like, he's got a toddler in his lap in the dining hall and is helping feed the bao their lunch? the kid is just tiny, and can't help being messy, but wwx is patient and kind with the kid?

He's just good! He's so good! QAQ

[efverse]

two separate doodles of rotom being "cute"...

[larkwinged]

𝓣𝐇𝐄 𝓜𝐀𝐃 𝓘𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐑 ── ❛ rusted heart

⟢ INTRO. “the end is a means to a new beginning.” ╱ an energetic inventor from fontaine who spends most of her time locked away in her lab working on her creations. to most, she is simply “the mad inventor” who works at the fontaine research institute. to few, she is just “cassia”; the robot awakened from a five hundred year slumber who is on a journey to find herself.

[naamahdarling]

A random ask for you: is there anything you got into recently (book series, tv series, game) that you didn’t expect to enjoy or were hesitant to try but ended up really liking? 😊

Oh man, REALLY loving Dark Winds on Netflix. I was afraid it wouldn't be good. It's really good.

Zahn McClarnon, the man they cast to play Leaphorn, is just incredible. It's like they put out a casting call for "a cool dude" and got the perfect match. I love him. He does such an incredible job. He plays the character in a very controlled way, most of it being in his face. The show is fairly serious but there's a lot of humor (not comedy but humor) and the way he brings humor into the performance without ever overplaying it is fantastic. He reminds me of my grandfather, who didn't laugh out loud much but you could still tell he was laughing. Just secretly, with a little smile and a glint in his eye. Unlike my grandfather, I find him very attractive. He has an interesting face I could never get tired of watching. Also he is short which is fucking delightful.

Anyway yeah the rest of the show is really good too. I hope they don't Netflix it.

[addie7]

I must say that this story was also a bit old written in a notebook.

Damn

I need a honeymoon.

[caterpillarinacave]

i saw in the tags of your henry and mortmain posts that you’d like people to ask you about them :) — and tbh i’d love to hear more about the parallels between them that you mention in the post :D

Before I begin, I’m so sorry I took so so long to answer! I have been pretty busy and could definitely do a longer breakdown of all this but it’s already been a month and it’s going to drive me insane if I leave thing unanswered any longer. 

I’ll need to do a full re-read of the trilogy to really answer the questions but here are some thoughts that are very interesting to me. Please excuse any incoherent-ness, (and grammar issues, and repetition issues, and poor citation, and spelling, and rambling, etc, etc) i have spent so long staring at the document i wrote this on trying to get my brain to work I may have totally lost the plot. Just trust me guys I’ve got a PhD in Henry Fairchild.  

Lets start off with the most obvious parallel, that being their work. On a strictly physical level the work they do is very similar- they both approach magic through science and vice versa in a notably unique fashion. Stylistically and functionally the things each of them create has a decently sized overla and Henry has no problem understanding Mortmain’s creations. Mortmain favors clockwork for his creations and while Henry doesn’t specifically focus on such things he is very familiar with them, and interested to boot. 

Mortmain is quite brilliant, in multiple ways. Most people could not manage the type of thing he pulls off consistently; Henry *probably* could. It’s worth noting Henry is severely limited by Shadowunter laws; in the third book we see the only reason he hasn’t invented a portal entirely by himself is because he can only work with a specific set of runes (Clockwork Princess, pg. 282). Even working in the tight restraints of Shadowhunter resources, and only being around 21 in the books, he’s extremely competent. 

Furthermore, Henry does not approach things with the period typical Shadowhunter judgement; as a matter of fact he essentially does not function within society as a Shadowhunter. To unpack that lets look at where Mortmain and Henry stand in relation to broader society. 

The London Shadowhunters in this time period can be described, for lack of a better word, as pissy. Judgmental, bored, aggressive, whiny, chronically dissatisfied, dramatic, dismissive, sometimes downright cruel, etc, etc. Pissy. They’re really pissy. 

Henry, objectively speaking, does not fit into all this, and is punished for it (see pgs 281-283 CP3). The general public treats him horribly. Recall in Clockwork Angel Charlotte tells Tessa that Henry was the one who told Mortmain what a Pyxis was (which is, again, a different rant), that he wants her to tell the Clave and that she won’t because “they already treat him so badly”. And they do- nearly every single interaction involving him and broader Shadowhunter society involves some sort of insult, mockery, slight, etc. Almost nobody but Charlotte ever objects to this behavior and her objections have zero effect. “Making fun of Henry” is pretty much an unopposed standard. 

There’s no fair reason for this. Henry is, by all accounts, an extremely pleasant person. He’s repeatedly described as “kind”- Tessa has him pinned as a trustworthy person almost immediately (“it’s only Henry, after all”). He’s rarely upset, laid back, well intentioned, and generally polite. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. 

Imo he probably would have been treated better if he did respond in kind- or even if he had just fully withdrawn from Shadowhunter society. His persistent refusal to hold a grudge, a generally positive trait, shoots him in the foot. This is only compounded by his general disinterest in things like physical fighting, politics, and social structure. He hasn’t done anything wrong- quite the opposite- but he’s being punished by his peers for the crime of being earnestly odd (coughhasblatantlyautisticcough). 

Mortmain, being a human child raised by warlocks, obviously does not fit into any particular standard. He doesn't have any particular loyalty to a party. Rather, he mostly defines his identity with his hatred for Shadowhunters, and connects with other groups transactionally with this in mind. 

He has been wronged by the Shadowhunters, when his parents were killed and then in the aftermath. The Clave denying his request for reparations and, by extent, denying any wrongdoing in their actions, is a smack in the face from a powerful society. 

With this in mind they would be both well within their rights to resent the Shadowhunters and they respond to that in fully opposite ways. 

Henry doesn’t resent them- at all. Despite how horribly he is treated, which, one can note, does not stop after the battle of Cadair Idris, he chooses to let it go and actively work to make life better for those same people. (Clockwork Prince; “You know it isn't just tinkering for me. You know I want to create something that will make the world better, that will make things better for the Nephilim.”), He views that cruelty as a part of life as a Shadowhunter but not the defining part of that society. It’s just a thing that happens- it sucks, it hurts, but he’s not going to blame or punish the whole group because of it. 

Mortmain’s is entirely the opposite. He hates them and views all the Shadowhunters as irredeemably wrong, fully deserving of a violent fate. All of them. He’s obsessed with destroying all these people despite most of the individuals who hurt him directly being gone. He blames them all, intends to carry out a mass punishment and doesn’t care about anything else.

He is deeply resentful, yeah, but he also wants more for himself. He doesn’t just want revenge, he wants a disgusting amount of power, a total victory over anything he choses, power mainly for the sake of having power. 

Now we can circle back to that earlier point- Henry could be like Mortmain. 

Recall in Clockwork Angel when they first bring back the automaton for Henry to examine in his lab he’s not just interested in the machine- he’s excited about it.He recognizes it to be a brilliant work of science and design, something incredibly impressive and compelling. This is not the sort of thing anyone sees everyday and it’s certainly not the sort of thing a Shadowhunter would interact with. This is exactly the sort of thing he loves, the sort of thing nobody else ever brings up, and it’s exciting to see. 

As the books continue nobody else is ever caught up on the functional skills of the machinery itself. People talk about Mortmain, about what is happening, what to do, etc, etc, but the fact that the automatons are a feat of engineering is just not on anybody's radar. It’s not the sort of thing any Shadowhunter gives shit about, save Henry. 

So Henry has the same intellectual capacity as Mortmain, the same scientific and magical capacity, and a not dissimilar approach to thinking. 

He could pretty much disappear and do whatever he wanted forever. He could ditch the Nephilim. He could walk off without telling anybody and never bother with the Clave’s again. He could go off and study all the things Shadowhunter’s are banned from. He could create whatever he wanted completely unencumbered by the restrictions of the Nephilim (see pg.283 of CP3). Chances are nobody would pick up on it. One of the major flaws of that group of Shadowhunters is that they’re very self focused. If someone they aren’t particularly fond of, who doesn’t fit into their narrow view of someone that deserves respect, stops showing up and interacting with them they are not gonna make any real effort to figure out where they’ve gone. If Henry wasn’t around to “annoy” them none of them wouldn't go looking for him and they don’t have enough respect for innovation to wonder what he’s up to. 

Remember, nobody cares about what he does (Clockwork Princess: Henry blushed a scarlet color. It was clear that no one had ever complimented his inventing before, except perhaps Charlotte. Pg. 282 ) 

He could have a whole new world of resources without having to deal with a society that thoroughly rejects him. He could do the one thing everyone thinks he loves the most. Hell, from an outsider point of view, the only thing he loves. He’ll happily spend days straight working, forgetting to eat, sleep, or anything else.

It’s theoretically not difficult to imagine a universe where he skips out of Shadowhunter society completely and has been wandering around the same circles as Mortmain for forever. 

(He doesn’t ofc because that would be betrayal. It would require breaking the law, throwing away all social and civic responsibility, abandoning the whole kit and kaboodle, blah blah, certainly not related to other very elaborate thoughts I have about this character.)

The point here is that they are so similar save that fact. Their scientific approach to the world, which absolutely defines that way Henry exists and, at least at some point in his life, probably defined Mortmain, are so similar. If you laid the basic facts all out to someone with no context other previous knowledge on the characters (here is what they do, here is what they’re best at, here is what they bring physically to the table etc and exclude personality, morality, relationships, etc) and asked them to point out a character most like Mortmain they’d probably point to Henry. 

Hell, I’d point to Henry. I’d say yeah, that’s a set up for someone to go full mad scientist and wander off to do whatever he wants. I’d say that's the character most likely to agree to use human bodies to power machinery. 

Recall back to Clockwork Angel (and like, two paragraphs ago) about the automatons that are so fascinating to Henry. The beginning scene is the most exciting he  ever is about this incredible tech:

“[The automaton] is not precisely a living creature at all… A mechanical creature, made to move and appear as a human being moves and appears. Leonardo da Vinci designed one. You can find it in his drawings- a mechanical creature that could sit up, walk, and turn its head. He was the first to suggest that human beings are only complex machines, that our insides are like cogs and pistons and cams made of muscle and flesh. So why could they not be replaced with copper and iron? Why couldn’t you build a person? But this. Jaquet Droz and Maillardet could never have dreamed of this. A true biomechanical automaton, self moving, self directing, wrapped in human flesh.” His eyes shone. “It’s beautiful.” 

“Henry.” Charlotte’s voice was tight. “That flesh you’re admiring. It came from somewhere.” 

Henry passed the back of his hand across his forehead, the light dying out of his eyes. “Yes- those bodies in the cellar.” (pg. 160-161, Clockwork Angel. )

That characteristic earnest excitement that he displays towards nearly everything new dies on the spot. “Miranda” and the other automatons are not less interesting because they’re made with human body parts- if anything that should make it more interesting. But the scientific brilliance is negated by the cruelty associated with it. It’s impressive, it’s “beautiful” and it’s not worth it. Innovation that opposes life, as opposed to promoting it, doesn’t count (see tags). 

So their work, especially in this context, is interchangeable- it’s their intentions that make the whole difference. 

Tessa says it best in Clockwork Princess; Henry brings things to life. Mortmain destroys. Where one of them has devoted his life to protecting people, regardless of how he’s been treated, the other one has devoted himself to slaughtering people, because of how he was treated. Where one invents with the specific intention of protecting life 

In other words, two very very similar people differentiated by a fundamental love for humanity and a fundamental disregard of it. 

TLDR: I need to reread the books to make this post but their style of work, approach to science and magic, and interests parallel. Also I have no idea if I’m coherent anymore please ranting in the tags for thoughts on everything here. 

TLDR the TLDR: They’re both inventing shit in a series hinged around these things that have been invented

[cedar-scars]

How it feels to do traditional art most of the time due to screens (bright) but not being good enough at making photos clear to post them literally anywhere

[sunny-daze-days]

Doing chemistry makes me question if I'm half as good at reading comprehension as I think I am because what do you mean "what is the OH- ion concentration in a 5.2x10^-4 M HNO3 solution?"

What do I look like? A nerd? I'm a geek at best

[kalosian-woods]

(synchro nonnie)

i swear, clemont's inventions need to be studied because his inventions can either actually do something for more than 10 minutes without exploding (clembot mini) or just blow up in everyone's faces

like how does one achieve so many explosions????

Tbf it is a gag first and foremost, in the same league as Brock's love for older women and Cilan's '*insert here* time'! exclaimations. But I do find it something that can lend insight if we look at it in the right angle 🤔

I know you're just talking about the sheer amount of explosions (that everyone somehow survives at point-blank range) (how are they alive?) and YEAH I'm totally with you on that one. I think overall Clem has had only a handful survive their untimely fate, with the most notable being the Clembots (....I mean the OG did survive! Mostly...), could I say the Clemontic Showers?? And also his bag to an extent. I do feel like Clemont does start to work with their latent ability to combust as time goes on (really feeling like he planned it in 'A Stealthy Challenge!', like there was no way he made a decoy that blew up in TR's face without knowing it pls) and later on his inventions do get a little sturdier and it takes outside force for them to go kaboom (e.g. the inventions in 'A Legendary Photo Op!' and 'A Cellular Connection!') (I hate TR for those incidents specifically).

And that sort of leads me to one of the gripes I do have with the anime-- as in I know I should've expected it, it's a gag for the male travelling companion and we have to have those as a staple, but geez he already had the marriage one! And I'm not even saying we take away the fun factor of his inventions! So many times it just explodes because of the air hitting it wrong - but why couldn't we have other causes instead? Some of my friends were talking about different ways that his inventions could blow up like him trying to power it with Pikachu (ambitious goals, really :P) or with his other Electric Types, or some of the Pokemon battling next to it. We can have moments where Clemont can learn and grow through his inventions, even if they failed before, because he is not only a Gym Leader but an inventor too! I think the only eps where we sort of get into the whole 'inventing' part of him (beyond Clembot! and don't get me started on that guy) is 'Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike!' and 'A Gaggle of Gadget Greatness!', and idk that's a little sad for me. It's a core part of his personality and informs so much of his arc! He lost the Gym because of one of his inventions! He made a promise to his friend that helped him make an invention and then lost them because of the celebration of its success! So many parts of his life can be drawn back to that.

Anyways, I like to assume that the reason why most of them blow up on their own is because as an S-ranked worrier, Clemont goes on to put so many failsafes and extra features into every invention that inevitably overworks the poor thing. Attracts 'bird-like Pokemon'? Well, he better put in things that attract Flying-Types, but also a majority of those would also be Normal too, right? But also some Pokemon have different preferences, and use sight as well as hearing so he might as well find a way to stop them from thinking too much about the signal but then--

For him to make the perfect invention for times such as the very specific situations they land in, Clemont would have to have thought ahead. And that's a weakness as well as a strength. In moderation it's a powerful tool, but also if you think too much you end up overthinking things. And then overcomplicating your machines. And that stresses them out too, because machines are like people that way. They need a break, and a purpose, and know their limits.

I find it interesting that in the sea of failures, Clembot mini gets to exist lol. Actually Clembot itself is a very cool example, because that bro can survive falling off a building with no damages whatsoever (no, seriously, watch 'Confronting the Darkness!'. what a fever dream), and before that the only examples we have of his inventions have always worked while the ones after it have, for the most part, always failed. When you think about it, Clembot is very much a turning point in Clemont's life: after trudging through Gym Battles and feeling overwhelmed, he turned to making a robot of himself (and as a Gym Leader, specifically). And that worked until it kicked him out because it couldn't recognise itself in the mirror Clemont himself. Bonnie calls out to Clem in Ep3 after the first (but not the last) explosion we've seen, about how it's 'another failure' / how he 'blew it again' (in dub), and idk that's got me thinking. I mean, it could be the explosion itself, or the fact that it didn't fulfil its function. Just like what happened at the Gym.

Maybe he's just trying to make up for the mistake he made beforehand, or he's just trying to live up to the perfection he was lauded for as a child when he lit up a whole city for people and Pokemon alike. I mean, I could get into the whole thing about 'Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike!' but that's a whole other ballpark heh. But ig beyond the gag itself, the fact that his inventions have a tendency to explode can be its own arc of sorts for him. To work with new materials and with the Pokemon around him, to reuse what he has, and to connect with those that are still around while not fixating on them as well. Always looking ahead to the future and being resilent, and helping others do the same.

[donald-duck-the-best-duck-rp]

Everyone thinks I like Mickey Mouse? You are so wrong, I don't love him at all, I'm still jealous of him because he stole all my glory in this world, and he would be nothing without me and Goofy. He will pay me! Joking aside, Mickey is my friend from Mousetown, but his best friend is Goofy, and I have my Caballeros friends and Gyro. So don't spread the word that Mickey is my boyfriend, because he isn't.

[loderlied]

ok sorry gang i need to be a hater for a second. there’s this semi popular account (i have blocked them but still get shown their shit occasionally so.) woobifying gortash to hell and back, like ‘he’s so sad and depressed and he really just needs a friend 🥺🥺🥺’ and it makes me cringe deep in entire body every time. why do these people pretend to like gortash. there are so many characters out there who fit that description but gortash certainly ain’t one of ‘em!!!!! like. megalomaniacal tyrant with a god complex who sees people as cattle since he can form a thought and eagerly does ‘experiments’ aka vivisection/torture on people’s brains and a proud slaver and a fascist and. so much more. guys. what are we doing here. (btw this is not about anyone on tumblr lol) i’m not about cringe culture at all but. dare i say. unironically calling yourself a gortash defender is at least a little bit cringe