#nova long thoughts

[nova-they-exist-yup]

dude this may sound stupid but i just realized why sans’ eyes flicker yellow and blue, or more specifically yellow and cyan. yellow = justice and cyan = patience

justice bc hes avenging nearly all of monsterkind during the fight

patience bc he is continuing to fight the player over and over again for long periods of time in hopes they give up the genocide route

omg i love that wtf how did i not realize this sooner

[nova-they-exist-yup]

As a "youth" who's generation is being discussed in this conversation i would like to put in my two cents. Mostly about what I see in my peers and my own experience with growing up the last few years.

Let's look at my english class first. It's standard english, not honors or anything, so already we have either a) the kids that struggle with english or b) the kids who just want to get through high school and be on their way. It's the latter group I want to highlight here.

I've seen, multiple times in my class, throughout the year, people deliberately not paying attention to instructions nor the content we'll literally be tested on. When I say not paying attention, they'll usually be zoning out or whisper talking with their friends. l've also seen people start the assignment before dismissed which is something I can sort of understand but they're still sometimes missing out on information that the teacher literally tells us when we first get our assignments.

I've seen COPIOUS uses of chat gpt for school. I've seen it on people's computers countless times and as someone who is vehemently anti-ai, it pisses me off to no end. Chat gpt is used so much that, again in my english class, the teacher has literally had to spend ACTUAL CLASS TIME to drill in the point that she can tell when they use it and that it won't trick her.

I have heard one (1) example of using it that I can honestly understand the logic of, and its from some of my friends who are more lenient on ai use. That example is that the class (which irc was like ap english or something like that) was too difficult to get through without using it. As in the teacher was so strict with her grading that most people used ai because they wouldn't get a good grade otherwise. The nitty gritty details of that situation are unbeknownst to me, as l am not in that class, but I feel like it's important to bring up anyway.

On a separate note: in regards to media literacy and critical thinking, I really have to thank not only the people i watch online but also my online friends for that. A good amount of the content I watch is commentary or educational. True crime, talks about internet drama, science related matters ranging from radioactivity to biology, particularly made by like-minded people in my opinion. This kind of content lets me learn about the world, what could be right/wrong, and lets me dig into topics that are complicated or nuanced. And in regards to online friends, most of the people I know are adults, or at the very least older than me. It's my time in fandoms with them that has made me self reflect not only on the media I'm consuming, but also on myself and my morals.

If I didn't have those friends or watch that content and didn't experience the sort of soul searching and analyzing that I have, then I probably would have way worse critical thinking skills right now.

I have gained pretty much no knowledge of critical thinking skills, particularly how to develop them, in school at all. It's all been from my experience online. And everyone's digital experience is going to be different; you're going to find your different niches, the algorithms are going to change to what you seem to click on... Considering the type of media that is online that blatantly lies and spreads misinformation, I can totally see many of my peers not learning the same critical thinking skills that I have currently. Because we're not taught that effectively in school.

Like fangirltothefullest said, we're all burnt out, we're all tired of school. We're given too much information in a day and then tested on how well we can memorize it. Not only that but school is not fun for most people. We're taught things that we're usually not going to use, that are usually not very interesting to most either, and we have to suck it up and memorize it for the next test we get. Plus, people sleep through classes because they stay up all night to study for the tests they have on any given week, or to get long homework assignments done.

The pessimistic mentality of "the youth are doomed" and "look at what the youth think, they're so dumb", is ultimately useless. Yes, it's important to see the demographics and look at just how many people think terrible, terrible things, but to blame it on the youth? Blame it on us, who are victims of our environments? It's completely uncalled for and counterintuitive. We *are* trying our best, but it is getting increasingly difficult for people my age to be properly educated and learn important critical thinking skills because, in the end, all that matters is that we pass. We need to get a 70 or above in our classes and that's it. We just need the numbers to show "yes, i know enough", even if that "knowing" is memorized information you forgot the moment you finished the test.

"the youth will save us" the youth are repeating nazi talking points

[tyhalloweencats]

SHE IS FUCKING UNDER ATTACK

[toxiccaves]

a few lil recent doodles

[animatedjen]

Correct. Bode has been my weapon for some time. Quite effective.

[pocketgalaxies]

was talking to my mom today about apartment hunting and stuff for my upcoming move and kinda out of nowhere she went "hey are you going to officially change your name? because i think now might be a good time to do it, since you need a new ID and everything." and i was so surprised? i always thought she thought it was kinda weird, or unnecessary, or childish, or stupid, or something, to suddenly have started using nova (a while back, now). and part of me thought that maybe i was hurting her feelings, discarding this beautiful thing she gave me. my best friend had a baby a few weeks ago and it's been very present in my mind how meaningful it is, naming your child. and the last time (kind of the only time) my mom asked about it, it was over text, and just knowing her i thought she was asking in this despairing kind of way. "oh what now, are you gonna cHaNgE yOuR nAmE?" kind of way. so today i said "does it make you feel weird? that i use a different name?" and she just shrugged and said "no? as long as it makes you happy." and i felt a little bowled over with love in that moment. idk. i think there's a poem in here somewhere

[novafire-is-thinking]

Something ive realised while rewatching tfp clips

Soundwave is only able to open portals willy nilly cus the mechanism for space bridge technology is on the nemesis, not him. he can only connect to it and make it open portals (which makes me wish Astrotrain was in the show cus I wonder if he would have this tech as well to help with travelling)

My source? When Soundwave is sent out to get a relic of Iacon and alserbeak gets hurt. Once Laserbeak sends his distress signal Soudnwave even forgoes taking out Wheeljack and just leaves immediately to get his partner, but he didn't use a spacebridge, despite the alternative being much quicker and immediate to retrieve Laserbeak. The best answer we have is that he couldn't create a bridge between their two locations because the nemesis was too far to recieve his commands to make one

In Shockwave's hunt for a predacon bone Soundwave arrives at the scene and is able to summon another bridge to let the falling bone piece fall into Megatron's hand. This scene shows bridges are made by commands through him, and there's a limited but large range distance Soundwave is able to make bridges outside the ship

And perhaps bridges can be timed or just made to hold open? because the first bridge remained for quite some time till both mecha ran back in

How dare you question Soundwave’s abilities /lh

When I first watched TFP, I assumed that was indeed the case, but I happen to have an interesting personal take on this.

Why Soundwave Wouldn’t Take a Ground Bridge Directly to Laserbeak

In reality, the writers went that way for the purpose of suspense. They needed to give Ratchet and Raf time to load Laserbeak. Also, the badass shot of Soundwave landing in the dark lol

For plot reasons that still bug me, Laserbeak wasn’t able to tell Soundwave that Ratchet was keeping him captive and had literally violated his body.*

Soundwave only received a generic distress call. He didn’t know if Wheeljack had come alone. For all he knew, the Wrecker could have called for backup in the form of the entirety of Team Prime, who may have set up a trap for him. Soundwave’s a tactical genius—he knows what others know about him. He would have known Team Prime would be expecting him to come via ground bridge.

Yes, Soundwave knew Laserbeak was in danger, but he also knew the Mini-Con was alive. He would have calculated the odds and selected the route at the intersection of the least risk and best potential outcome.

Overall, arriving via direct ground bridge would have been riskier than flying in. At least from the air, he could assess the situation before walking into a potential trap. He’s good, but not take-on-all-of-Team-Prime-at-once good.

Also…

Wheeljack: “I’m sorry.”

Ratchet: “What’s wrong? Where are you?”

Wheeljack: “Uh. Figure you got maybe…two minutes.”

Ratchet: *sees Soundwave flying in*

Ratchet: “Or less…”

Maybe Wheeljack’s estimate really was that bad.

Maybe Soundwave is faster than he looks.

OR

Maybe Soundwave used a ground bridge sometime during the flight, but far enough away from Laserbeak’s location so that he could still assess potential danger from the air.

*This plot hole still bugs me. If Laserbeak had just told Soundwave he’d been loaded up with a grenade and infected with a virus, the Autobots would have lost the race for the relics. You had ONE job Laserbeak! 😡 /lh

Ground Bridge Limitations

I present this glorious clip:

Based on Fix-It’s reaction and everything we’ve seen about ground and space bridges, only one portal at a time can be opened from a single bridge mechanism.

It’s reasonable to assume that when Prowl and Bluestreak engineered the first space and ground bridges (The Covenant of Primus), they found out very quickly that more than one portal per bridge was a bad idea. They would have then ensured that all bridge apparatuses were engineered with these limitations in mind.

However, nothing prevents two separate bridges from opening two different portals near each other, as we see in TFP and RiD15.

All this to say, in the clip above, there’s no way the second portal could have been opened from the junkyard’s bridge. It had to have originated from another bridge apparatus (assumed to be built into Soundwave’s body).

But couldn’t Soundwave have just tapped into the junkyard’s bridge from the Shadowzone and hijacked it that way?

Highly unlikely.

Even taking into account inter-dimensional radio waves, nothing would have happened because, like I mentioned earlier, all bridges are likely designed to prevent two portals from opening at once. (Signal blockers, limited power capacity, etc.)

Soundwave would’ve had to have been physically there to restructure the physical ground bridge mechanism, in order to increase its power capacity (among other things). Even so, the implied physics of portal “streams” prevents this.

And anyway, Soundwave is later seen at the controls, linking himself to the junkyard’s ground bridge. This tells me he wasn’t connected to it before, so the portal he originally opened was all him.

Back to TFP

In the Predacon bone scene, at one point, both portals were open at the same time. This means one of them probably originated with Soundwave, unless the Decepticons figured out a way to build a bridge that supports more than one portal.

But even if they had, it would be considered an exception, since many years after the events of Prime, Fix-It and the others still believe two portals from the same bridge mechanism isn’t possible.

So, can Soundwave open bridges on his own or not?

I think it’s likely that the writers intended for him to be limited in his ability to open bridges, lest he be a little too OP. (As if he wasn’t already. lol)

However, what all of those limitations are isn’t 100% clear. The most common take is that he can only open them when linked to a control mechanism, but there’s at least one exception to that in RiD15.

All things considered, I think Soundwave can open bridge portals on his own.

Things to consider when opening portals without a link to an external bridge control:

Energy consumption

If at all possible, Soundwave would avoid opening his own portals when fighting because it uses up a lot of energy—energy that may be needed in unexpected combat. He’s an excellent fighter, but he has limits that he knows very well. Tapping into an existing control mechanism would eliminate the energy drain that comes with opening portals with a personal apparatus built into his body.

Size limitations

Soundwave wouldn’t be able to open massive ground bridges or even space bridges on his own because of his personal energy (energon) reserves and the limited capacity of the smaller apparatus installed in his body.

One at a time

Like all other bridges, Soundwave would only be able to open one portal at a time—hence why he wasn't able to escape from the Shadowzone by himself.

TL;DR Soundwave can probably open ground bridges on his own, but there are limitations.

[roosterbirds]

Deep In The Meat Zone (x) requested by @keeningthoughts

[everwizard]

America is so fucked

[nova-they-exist-yup]

i’m obsessed with this one lyric from nmtk so im shoving it in your faces

“Having enjoyed all the meat from the bone / Is perfectly equal to being alone / It was even, but you breathe and I turn to stone”

The first two lyrics are talking about how Soul’s been through the loop, and because of that, he feels isolated from Heart & Mind. He’s been through everything before, and seeing h&m go through the same routine of fighting and making up in cacophony, it pains him.

Now he and Whole both have memories of the loop, so they both feel a similar distance to h&m. The difference is pointed out in that last lyric though. Whole can stand up and carry on with his day just fine with that knowledge, and Soul can’t. It’s just too much for Soul.

(These lyrics are what make me think about the difference in awareness and remembering the loop btw. I believe the reason behind the difference in Whole vs Soul is being aware of the loop. Soul is aware of the loop so hes haunted by the fact that h&m are fighting again, it’s another reminder to him of how the loop goes on. Whole isn’t though, and can go by easy because he doesn’t think it’ll happen again.)

[whimsicalcotton]

lie awake each night thinking instead of you, it should be me

[novacainedaydreams]

Everyday I'm stuck inside trapped during this winter "break" far away from my girlfriend, the more I feel like I'm Odysseus from Epic: The Musical.

I totally get where he's coming from now. If I was so close to seeing my beloved after so long and fuckers keep getting in the way, I'd flip out too. And it's only been a month since I last saw her. I can't imagine 20 years.

The only upside to me being here another day or two (or fucking god knows how longIfuckinghatewinter) is that it allows me to have some Co Co Wheat.

[ofblockstarsandfeathers]

Chapter 50: Eurydice (noun.)

Wife of Orpheus; the one who should not be looked upon.

In which the Hunt makes its debut; in which Ellegaard discovers the meaning behind a Greek tragedy.

Content warnings in chapter notes!

[reflections-of-mobius]

An art piece of Stardusted Dreams (Cedar x Nova), as done by @duskdoodles. It's meant to be mid-event, right after Nova's realized Cedar is still alive (and Cedar realized Nova wasn't just a figment of their imagination). They're both---- in tears, give them a few minutes,...they'll be fine--- stop calling the cops damnit-

[Please do not reblog unless you have permission from Dusk.]

[abookishidentity]

Books finished in September 2024

-Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear started September 2, 2024 and finished September 6, 2024- 4/5 stars. Treasure hunting in space. I do like this type of book a lot. I was worried it was going to be like books I have read before but it was it’s own thing. The main character was interesting. It sounded like she came from a weird clone cult. If that wasn’t bad enough, they used her for terrorism. Her emotions were regulated which was interesting. Her sexuality was regulated too which was more interesting. Not sure how I felt about that. The book sort of slows down when she is stranded on the treasure ship with a terrorist. But overall a good book. It had cool aliens in it and such. 

-Black Water Sister by Zen Cho started September 7, 2024 and finished September 9, 2024- 4/5 stars. It’s good to read books with different myths and legends in it than you are familiar with. The main character could see ghosts and most specifically her grandmother’s ghost who was fucking willing to murder and hurt men (quite valid). It was an interesting story. I’m glad things worked out of the main character at the end. I hope she is able to express herself to her parents. 

-The Shadow Rule by Novae Caelum started September 10, 2024, read most of it on September 13, 2024 and finished September 14, 2024- 4/5 stars. This is such an interesting series to read. Cool shapeshifting powers and shit. I will say that there are quite a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of them go by different names. The chapters are relatively short which makes the book easy to fly through. 

-Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas started September 14, 2024 and finished September 17, 2024- 4/5 stars. I think Aiden Thomas’ work is pretty good. I don’t read YA anymore but I will read their work. This book is a journey book which means the main characters are just constantly moving from place to place. We get the perspective of the character who caused all the shit to happen which means we get to see them slowly realize “Wait a minute. This isn’t what I wanted at all! I don’t think I’m cut out for this evil business” Interesting ending. 

-Mickey7 by Edward Ashton started September 18, 2024 and finished September 20, 2024- 5/5 stars. An expendable worker in space? What’s not to love about that? Apparently this book has a sequel so I might need to buy that at some point. Interesting aliens, interesting plot. It was quite a good book. Always good when the main characters don’t end up committing genocide on a sentient species. 

-The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst started September 20, 2024 and finished September 23, 2024- 4/5 stars. This essentially was a hallmark rom com with high fantasy thrown in. The book was right about that but I didn’t mind it. I liked the main character who was a librarian and just essentially cared about her crates full of books. She fled a burning city and library so she is pretty closed off from people. She knows her boundaries though. She also has a talking spider plant for a friend which is pretty cool. The fantasy creatures in this book were pretty cool. 

-Willful Child by Steven Erikson started September 23, 2024 and finished September 25, 2024- 3/5 stars. Essentially reading Futurama. It was a ridiculous moment after another and it was pretty amusing. It was essentially reading Zapp Brannigan’s exploits in space. It was a fast read. 

-How Long Til Black Future Month? By N. K. Jemisin started September 26, 2024 and September 29, 2024 - 3/5 stars. It’s good to read science fiction/fantasy from a woman of color occasionally. Some of the stories were interesting. Some weren’t as much. Not enough science fiction stories though. I will have a whole post rating the stories.

[cant-kill-me-if-im-already-dead]

TAG DUMP

I'll update this as need be, but here is a current tag list!