#these kids have no concept of punishment or consequences.

[hairtusk]

also if you're ever wondering why we as a society are descending into lunacy, it's because children no longer care about the real world because their entire lives exist exclusively online

[soft-serve-soymilk]

More random head children musings (aside from the really sad one because that deserves better than a throwaway post):

Honestly I think it’s very fortunate that Dism’s team isn’t *entirely* comprised of lucid dreamers.

[peppermintquartz]

Tommy Kinard knows his berserk button - he can't abide anyone striking a child. A person raising a hand to a child to "discipline" them makes Tommy's blood boil. He used to be "disciplined" that way by his father - hand, belt, ruler, his own grandfather's walking stick on one occasion - that Tommy's grown to loathe the very concept of corporal punishment.

So when he sees a man - average height, average size, expensive clothes - slapping a teenager across the face in the parking lot, he stops in his tracks, the bottles of shampoo and conditioner in his canvas shopping bag forgotten.

Evan doesn't realize Tommy has stopped until he is nearly at the car, and then sees Tommy staring at the man now shouting at the kid. There's another blow, heavy right hand across the boy's cheek that leaves a reddened mark.

"Tommy?" Evan calls out.

"I'll be there in a sec." Tommy grits his teeth and storms over to the man. He gets there before the guy can strike the boy a third time. He steps in front of the teenager.

"There's no need to use violence," Tommy says, cold and stern. He doesn't like to intimidate, but he pulls up to his full height and breadth. Without turning his head, he asks the teen, "You okay?"

The teenager mutters that he's okay.

"Who the hell are you? This is family business!" the man bellows at Tommy, as if Tommy isn't a full head taller and possibly twice as heavy.

By now Evan has joined them. Two tall, burly men should de-escalate the situation, but Tommy worries that it will cause trouble for the kid. He steps away.

"You don't have to hit someone to prove a point," Tommy says to the older man. He doesn't want to push it. The boy will have to bear the consequences. Turning to the boy, Tommy says, "How old are you, kid?"

"Fifteen."

"Old enough to understand then," Tommy says, keeping his tone calm and even, hoping the teen will understand what he's trying to convey, "you have to obey your father's rules until you're an adult. And that's three years from now."

Three years. Hold on for three years. Then you can get out.

The teenager raises his chin and glares at him, his eyes red-rimmed, and then maybe he sees something in Tommy's own face. Swallowing whatever he intended to say, the boy nods, holds his tongue.

"See? Even outsiders understand the rules!" The father huffs and stalks to a car. A navy blue Lexus.

As the man walks away, Evan quickly adds, "If you ever need help, if you're in actual danger, find your way to Fire Station 118 or 217. Ask for Kinard - K I N A R D - and you'll find either me or my husband. Don't tell your dad."

The teen rolls his eyes in the way teenagers do when they think adults are being stupid. But there's a smile on the corner of his lips. "Sure. Thanks, dude."

"You're welcome, kid," Tommy advises as he and Evan walk away.

Evan tangles his fingers with Tommy. "I've never seen you intervene like that."

"Never really had occasion to." He exhales. "I just don't like seeing shit like that."

It's testament to how well Evan knows him now that he doesn't poke or pry, trusting that Tommy will tell him later.

And Tommy will. Not immediately. Tonight, after he's soaked in a hot bath to release the tension in his shoulders and back and legs, forget the phantom stings and welts and bruises. He'll be ready to talk then.

[mdhwrites]

How Terrible of a Parent is Odalia?

TL:DR: If we ignore narrative bias, Odalia is at best a little bit of a helicopter parent and nothing else. Her being a bad person actually doesn't translate to her being a bad parent and we actually have very little evidence that she is actually even that controlling.

So I want to start with saying that this isn't about whether Odalia is or isn't a good person. She is not. The show is cartoonishly evil with her... But in weird ways for their goals. Her most evil acts actually have little to nothing to do with parenting. Letting the rest of the Isles die for the ascension of her family? Technically not the worst parenting move in the world from a purely literal perspective of trying to provide the best future for your kid. Trying to murder Luz? Well, she is the protege of the most wanted criminal in the entire Isles. I can't imagine why Odalia might not want her child associating with her. Weird concept, I know.

And that's actually something to keep in mind with what is seen as her biggest crimes: Kicking out Willow and getting Gus, Willow and Luz expelled. If we shift perspective a little... Odalia is just right. They are bad influences who are negatively impacting her daughter's ability to learn and better herself. Why would she want Amity to continue spending time with them?

Yes, this includes tiny Willow. The ONE thing we see of the two of them as friends is them SKIPPING CLASS and hiding from the instructor, only for Willow to fail, get them attacked by animals and then in trouble. I'm sorry but that doesn't sound like a good thing to me. Even just trolling around the market and pranking some people in your own free time is better, which is the worst thing we ever see Boscha do in this sort of regard. Sure, Boscha is a bully but not to an extreme level (King makes a fucking point of how tame she is) and doesn't get in the way of things like school or work for either herself or Amity. For what Odalia cares about, which is Amity improving herself to have a better shot at a good future, which is not a bad thing to want for your daughter, it's what Camila wants by sending Luz to Summer Camp, why would she condemn Boscha instead of the one playing Hookie?

Then we get the fact that Dana literally had a list of crimes stated out for why Luz was a menace since joining Hexside. If we shift the perspective to be that seeing the photo made Odalia go "Well, there's one bad influence, her grades are slipping and I did hear that something happened during Grom... I'm gonna look into this," rather than "I MUST CRUSH THESE PEOPLE WHO MAKE MY DAUGHTER SMILE!" then her actions seem pretty justifiable. I mean, before Luz even joined the school, her and Gus were skipping class and causing massive property damage. She was cheating on Willow's assignment and breaking in. The Grom one is bullshit but Luz is genuinely a menace. Not a Spider-Man, J. Jonah menace but genuinely causing problems and damage. And again: In active connection with the most wanted, WILD WITCH, in the ISLES. With that, Odalia almost looks like the only sane person here.

Now mind you, main character bias, the fact that we know Eda is barely a criminal, etc. like that but Odalia doesn't have any of that. By the rules of her society, you know like Camila had to act from Luz threatening to vandalize her school with fireworks and assaulting her principal with a wild snake, she has every right to think Luz is bad. To think Luz is the worst possible person for her daughter to spend time with. Sure, she smiles... Now... But what about when life catches up? Breaking the rules is fun after all but there are consequences, at least if you're not Luz.

But what about her general parenting style? She places crushingly harsh restrictions on Amity after all! Well... No?

Here are her demands: I want you to keep your grades up but if you help me, I will let you dropping to being a B student slide with no further punishments.

Please wear this necklace so I can talk to you when I need to, much like texting a cellphone would do.

Please aim for an Ivy League school because I believe you are good enough for that and I will give you the support to reach that height.

I would like your hair to be green.

I mean... These all sound... good? Now yes, pushed to the extreme they can be bad. If there is no leeway, like if Odalia forced Amity to spend every second studying, threatened to disown her if she didn't get into the EC and demanded 100s on every test then yeah, she'd genuinely be abusive but she's not. Amity appears to have PLENTY of free time where she is entirely unmonitored and allowed to do as she pleases. This isn't even just post Escaping Expulsion. She spends time just hanging out with Boscha after all. She's able to run out into the woods to angst about Grom coming up. She goes to the Knee to train but that's without any supervision besides the twins who are known troublemakers (pin that in the back of your head btw). Even the necklace isn't like full control over her. It never overrides her body or mind. It's literally just sending messages. That's nothing, especially for a fantasy mom? Oh my god could that necklace be way fucking worse. When forcing her to dye her hair green, but not entirely so Amity must have some amount of say as to the styling of it or else her front half star wouldn't be allowed to exist, is the worst thing she's actually doing with evidence to back it... That's pretty fucking tame. It's like telling your kid "No, you're not allowed to have giant chains on your pants because they make you look like a thug." Oh and on the disown element? Amity literally tries to sabotage her mother's company and attack her and Odalia's reaction is just to go "Yep, that Luz girl sure is a menace, with a literal bounty, but you're still my daughter." That is the patience of a god damned saint right there.

And hey, what about the twins? They're Odalia's kids too. They don't fear Odalia though. She is neither of theirs greatest fear. In fact, they'd rather be with her than alone, because being alone is at least Edric's greatest fear. If she's as monstrous as the fandom likes to say, that should not be the case. Also, they do skip classes like Willow made Amity. We know this because Amity literally states it in her diary with frustration that no one does anything about it. That implies she tried getting people to do it. So why didn't Odalia crack down on them? Do they do things for as deals to get away with their freedom like Amity helping with the Abomaton show? I mean, same episode we meet them, they show up because Odalia told them to bring Amity her lunch because she forgot about it. Odalia cares enough that she'll see her daughter forgot her food, doesn't have to ask Amity where she is but instead keeps enough of an ear on her daughter's life to know where she is, which avoids some amount of claims of neglect, and sends Edric and Emira to the library. This could be read as not wanting to bother with it but just as easily it could be "Sweet, an excuse to force my trouble making twins to go to the library where they might actually study for once if Amity forces them to." It could also be that because she runs everything about Blight Industries besides R&D, she was just too busy, which is not the greatest sin in the world despite what kid's movies will tell you.

So... Why is Odalia labeled the worst parent ever? Why is she made out to be as abusive as Belos, who will literally kill Hunter if he's displeased enough, when there's so little evidence for it? Because I wouldn't bother with this sort of blog if not for the claims the fandom likes to make. The exact same claims that led to my first ever TOH blog that was about the contradictions in how people talked about Odalia post S1 and literally every piece of evidence we had. Is she flawless? God no. But this is a show that criticizes Camila for being too oppressive as a parent.

MAYBE it's a little misguided on what parenting actually is and you should question how it portrays its parents. See you next tale.

======+++++======

Oh, small additional edit to expand briefly on Clouds on the Horizon: Her kids literally attempt terrorism and her response is to ground them. Just. Ground them. With one person keeping an eye on them. Sure a trained guard but they just tried to commit TERRORISM.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[the-s1lly-corner]

I got an idea from the child reader request.

Like the same wolf in sheep's clothing concept but like FULL SWEET TO DARK PERSONALITY.

Wanna hear?

So basically child reader is like cute and innocent at first sight but IS A TOTAL DEMON, Having a very dark sense of humor, Sometimes out of nowhere walk up to someone of the gang and threaten to gouge out their eyes while they sleep, they are always with an cute expression but turns out that they like to cause chaos and havoc just like Jax but in a more creepy way.

For example, SOMEHOW reader is caught hanging from the ceilling scaring the fuck out of gangle just because its fun. Or staying in the dark waiting for someone so they can jumpscare them.

Basically child reader uses their cute-kid as an advantage to scare others off.

TADC x child!reader who is a menace! (platonic)

wasnt quite sure what to title this so!! some segments may be shorter than others since im still trying to get a hand of writing/coming up with ideas for certain characters (cough cough gangle) (i love her sm but shes so hard for me to write idk why) hope you enjoy! majority of this post is just me tormenting the cast TToTT

CAINE:

oh my god you kind of remind him of bubble but more... flkmddlvm

makes a time out rule when you keep making threats to the other circus members, that behavior is not family friendly!

he might even consider trying to go into the code and censoring your common phrases as well as some other words, if he has the capabilities for that

still tries to be a dad to you, though, wants to be a good role model and guide you in the right direction for the sake of everyone else

the first time you say something... morbid to him he just

slack jawed, stares at you before shaking himself back to reality and just

bro is astonished he was not ready to hear that today, let alone hear it from a small child

POMNI:

you know how in the other post with a child!reader i mention that pomni is vaguely uncomfortable around kids since she knows they can dish out some real cruelty

take this idea and multiply it by 10x

actually looks like that one sad spongebob meme with the big eyes and tear when shes put in charge of keeping an eye on you during an in house adventure

meek attempt to get you to behave

not much to say here imo, since its like an amped up version of the last post :O

JAX:

makes a joke about how youre already entering your edgy phase, he now has to watch his back lest some of his digital fur be shaved off

fear does not come close to describing how he feels when he discovers that you somehow found keys to some peoples rooms. he hopes you dont have a key to his room

and he thought he was hot shit, but no some random kid makes him fear the consequences of his actions

is this his punishment for his constant bullshit? what did he do in particular to deserve this?

instinctively looks up at the ceiling when he enters a room to make sure youre not about to drop on him

congrats, youve instilled fear into the funny rabbit

RAGATHA:

the 'nightmare kid' thing some babysitters go through at least once in their life, but instead of tantrums and such its just you talking about how you sometimes tear apart the dolls that came with your room. to the doll person

very uncomfortable by a lot of the stuff you casually say, even more so because its coming from a kid. though i think she would be uncomfortably be talk like that in general

SWEARS that one day shes going to blink and youll suddenly be right next to her or within her proximity

like on one hand she wants to try to guide you to be less dark, like caine, but i think she would need someone to back her up because she cannot get the image of the torn up dolls out of her head

KINGER:

poor man

like even if the things you said were empty threats, he would be scared shitless

if he isnt already in his fort, hes retreating to it the second he sees you around

kind of funny since kinger is in his late late 40s and youre a kid and hes terrified of you

anyways

less of a discomfort thing and more so scared that youre going to go through with the things you say

he walked into the common area one day and saw you literally crawling across the walls, he was with gangle when he saw it. you see his irises of his eyes shrink

doesnt even bother going to his fort, which is under where you currently are

he just

slowly

backs away, he can find refuge in his room... unless you have a key to his room

ZOOBLE:

less discomfort more annoyance with zooble, i think that while she would find it funny when a kid swears she finds people talking like that to be cringe; kid or not

the only one who isnt really scared of you. sure you threaten to disassemble them constantly and hide their pieces across the grounds to assure they can never be whole again, but they're just internally cringing while you try to make them turn away

in a weird way you two create an odd dynamic where you just go on and zooble just halfway listens, you kinda just talk at them

like while caine tries to be your dad, and ragatha tries to be.. something.. zooble is like a weird 'friend'

probably has the most potential to become a friend and get you to chill, but thats just based on my experience

like if its an attention/reaction thing, zooble isnt going to give it to you, which kind of. ruins the point of it for you, and you just

stop, or at least tone it down over time

or maybe thats just me seeing zooble having the potential to be an older sibling figure

GANGLE:

the gif is gangle when you get your hands on her

i understand that she cries easily, but like, you have probably made her cry at least once either on accident or on purpose

i think shes one of the few characters out of the cast who would probably start avoiding you for the sake of her emotional state, but she would feel bad about it since at the end of the day you're a kid

refuses to go anywhere near you when her comedy mask is broken, because otherwise shes a glum mess

you know how in poppee the performer, kedamono's mask sometimes just. pops off when he gets scared or surprised (well it happens regardless of expression/mood but yk)

gangle does that when she sees you LITERALLY CRAWLING ON THE WALLS LIKE A BUG

how are you even doing that

she doesnt wanna know, actually

"imma tie you up double knotted style" *high pitched crying*

[klemsk-a]

TL;DR

S2a undermines the concept of redemption so badly it makes me want to cry.

Megatron changing for the better is interesting because it’s complicated. He used to be a warlord, a tyrant, people suffered directly as a consequence of his actions. Unfortunately ES fails to show us these consequences. The closes we have are Starscreams words and that is far from showing us anything.

There are no flashbacks, no actual conversations. Nothing but the present and most of it is from childrens perspective.

This lack of nuance is frustrating. For all we know Megatron might’ve acted exactly the same, but changed factions therefore he is a good guy know.

And this “autobots = good, decepticons = bad” morality is so on the nose in s2a it’s actually kind of pathetic.

The new season needed a villain, and all the hatred for cybertronians apparently evaporated (everybody else just had a change of heart ig and the only 2 people who actually disliked them are dead) and the cons were “always” bad so it doesn’t matter.

It allows the writers not to think about Megatron and problems accompanying his redemption because his victims are terrible so… it’s all fine, don’t worry 👍.

Perhaps it isn’t this way and I majorly misinterpreted the show.

The existence of the chaos terrans really makes me doubt it tho. It also makes me incredibly mad.

Aftermath literally comes into existence, has no idea what’s going on, who is everyone and they’re all fighting. So he does too. And immediately gets called terrible, basically the evil version of the terrans.

WHAT KIND OF MESSAGES IS THAT?

That because you aren’t from a perfect family you’re evil? That is what I got out of it.

Terrans = whole Emberstone = good

Chaos terrans = broken Emberstone = bad

For a show about acceptance and empathy that is a terrible plot point 😀

The episode with Aftermath and Jawbreaker (was extremely boring imo but that’s not important) gives you the impression they’re going to further develop Aftermath. Have him questioning orders and thinking about his choices. But no, he STOLE the entire water from a cave in one tank (how did he even manage???)

Spitfire is an even worse example.

On her first day alive, she gets told that if she wins a race she gets to go on an autobot mission.

She wins, by endangering Alex, and they tell her she won’t get the reword. It’s all understandable but the writers clearly don’t know anything about raising children or children in general.

Yes Spitfire did a bad thing and has to be taught that her behaviour was bad. No they cannot be mad at her for not immediately understanding and agreeing with them. That’s why children (especially toddlers) are infuriating. They don’t know better so you have to teach them, but they will find a loophole to help them get what they want (obviously depends on a child but we are rolling with Spitfires personality). Now depending on what they’ve done to get to it you either reward them or punish them. Because they don’t necessarily understand what they did wrong, even if it’s obvious to you, it can be hard to explain in a way that satisfies a child.

Spitfire lashing out and attacking Twitch is common for kids who believe that someone got something they deserved. It’s especially common if a kid has problems with aggression.

That could’ve been an interesting character development and a good message. Sometimes children won’t be easy to deal with (as all the terrans are, sure they can make bad decisions but ultimately they don’t cause much problems), sometimes they have unpleasant personalities or behavioural problems but it doesn’t make them evil. Being there and loving a child isn’t enough to raise them, discipline is needed and so is patience.

But no.

Aftermath and Spitfire are chaos terrans so they are evil by proxy. Too bad lol.

Twitch and Thrash needed to learn everything. So did Nightshade, Hashtag and Jawbreaker. There was a great deal about self discovery.

Aftermath and Spitfire already have alt modes (at least Spitfire I don’t actually remember Aftermath) and they are just terrible, no good people.

Case closed, problem solved.

Oh. And then they died so…

Unlucky 🤷‍♀️

Redemption in media, especially kids media is important. It sends a message that you can in fact mess up in life, make a couple (hundreds) of mistakes and still come out on top.

But redemption is earned, and it can be (and often is) hard to changed for the better (as opposed to changing for worse).

You shouldn’t change for those you have hurt but so it won’t happen again, so you won’t hurt others again.

Some will come back, some will not.

It IS important that you try nonetheless.

Because no matter what explaining isn’t excusing and no one is born evil.

This show is so FRUSTRATING to me because I cared, and still do obviously (I wrote two versions of this but accidentally deleted the first one so had to write one again).

I really hope S2b will be back on track about acceptance and redemption.

I think Starscream deserved better but sincerely hope they (autobots) will get a hold of him, and him and Megatron will actually talk.

At least let Starscream have his father-daughter relationship with Hashtag, please 🙏.

[dfastback68]

Failed to think up modern goth fam scenarios, but this one’s for @kacievvbbbb anyway because I do blame them for the concept of post-canon Mihawk’s Home for Displaced Pirates. (Building off of this fic)

Besides King, who else might wind up there? I don’t really know what’s going on with him in canon, but the answer is obvious: Moria! Perona’s already living on Kuraigana part time/most of the time, so eventually she’d drag her original adoptive dad there.

Of course she wouldn’t tell him it’s Mihawk’s island. Just that there’s this great spooky island with plenty of room and huge graveyards and she loves it and she knows he’ll love it, too. Moria doesn’t put it together that it’s Kuraigana until they’re already there. Perona has absolutely done this on purpose. He really should have seen it coming.

Mihawk isn’t thrilled but he doesn’t object. There’s plenty of room, after all (and he knows Perona will be insufferable if he said no). He does enforce pretty strict rules about fighting among the inhabitants. They can leave their past grievances behind if they want to stay here. No one really wants to mess with Mihawk (or Zoro when he's around).

The first few days go fine, but Perona has forgotten a very crucial aspect to the side of the castle Moria is living in: King. Objectively she knows Moria suffered a crushing defeat from Kaido, and that King was certainly by his side, but it’s not like it’s personal, right? There’s no fighting allowed on the castle grounds, except where training and sparring is permitted. Nothing could ever possibly go wrong.

It’s probably dumb luck that King and Moria don’t run into each other at first. Then one morning Moria walks into the study to find Perona and King in the middle of one of their hair braiding sessions, and all hell breaks loose.

Moria is shrieking, King is yelling, Perona is screaming. She’s never seen Moria so motivated to actively harm someone when it breaks out into an actual fight. Her negative hollows won’t work on them.  Moria simply cannot stand the sight of someone like King being anywhere near Perona. That’s his daughter!!!!

Mihawk has to break it up. Mihawk, all 6 foot something of him, getting between King and Moria, both 20 feet tall.  

He throws them outside and essentially puts them in time out. Perona is sobbing. Mihawk is seriously reconsidering this entire operation. Neither of them really have anywhere to go, though, so he has to think of consequences to quell this sort of behavior. Exactly what he’s been hoping to avoid.

I figure Mihawk’s brand of punishment is just manual labor, but most of the castle residents already pitch in with gardening and farming… so he probably puts them on kitchen duty together. It’s the one room best equipped to handle King’s flame if he gets pissed, and Moria hates doing any kind of menial work at all. 

Forcing them to peel potatoes and carrots and wash grapes (under Perona’s supervision) until they’re united in their anger against Mihawk instead of each other works pretty well, actually. Crisis averted.

(Also wondering if we should throw the Seraphim in there somewhere, too, since again Kuraigana is just a big chill island where they could maybe learn to be people and not live under scrutiny. And let King suffer a mental breakdown over them in privacy. Moria has no idea what to do with a kid murder robot version of himself. Perona treats them like her minions and then eventually like little siblings.)

[crytid0author]

Character Analysis of Richard Cameron

Only because I’m tired of seeing him get so much hate

To start, I acknowledge that Cameron DID betray the rest of the Poets. This is not me uselessly defending him. I just believe that there are reasonings behind his actions that people tend to overlook. I understand that not everyone likes him.

Before I defend Cameron’s actual actions, I’d like to take a look at Welton’s policies and such. As seen in the movie, Welton’s chosen disciplinary method is to spank kids with a wooden paddle. While this is clearly physically “disciplinary” (if you ignore that it is blatantly abusive), it is also mentally degrading and embarrassing for the kids. They’re told to count out the hits which shows their weakness or facade breaking. Most kids when put in this situation would choose to talk rather than be hit.

Now, onto Cameron’s character. We as an audience are shown that he is what’s typically regarded as a “teacher’s pet”. This is shown in his reluctance to tear the introduction out of the book, alongside other instances. This moment also shows that Cameron does prefer to stick to the rules considered to be socially acceptable, though he is not opposed going against them if he sees fit. We’re also shown that he will grow to like or accept an idea he found unfit before, such as Keating as a concept.

Now, onto The Betrayal. If you take all things into account such as Cameron’s character and Welton’s actions towards misbehavior, I believe it’s safe to say that Cameron felt pressured into admitting everything and saw Keating as a way out of the consequences. Between Cameron’s reputation among the school, typically seen as smart and rule following, and Welton’s chosen discipline method, lying, in Cameron’s eyes, would seem to be the wrong thing to do. While Cameron felt as though he had to admit to what he had done, what they had done, he also did not want to have to take the punishment, or for his friends to take the punishment he was most likely threatened with. So, in Cameron’s eyes, he was doing the right thing and protecting his friends at the same time.

[bardraelyn]

On Disaster Puppies, Anxious Angels, and Applesauce

*This post has been revised and expanded from a previous post.

So the key to understanding the end of S2 boils down to this:

Angel!Crowley = disaster puppy (all enthusiasm, not much sense)

Aziraphale = anxious kid who grew up in a house with plastic covers on all the furniture (this bit is important)

Let’s break it down:

When they first encounter each other, in the time Before the Beginning, Aziraphale shows signs of unease when he hears Angel!Crowley questioning God’s Ineffable Plan. I’ve seen it suggested that Aziraphale reacts this way because has doubts—that he doesn’t trust Heaven. Yet it’s well established in S1 that the loss of faith comes later, after the events surrounding Armageddon prove to him irrevocably that Heaven sees humans as no more than tokens in an elaborate game against Hell. No, Before the Beginning, Aziraphale trusts Heaven implicitly, and that trust is the root of his fear. Aziraphale trusts Heaven, Heaven has rules, and rules must be enforced.

Aziraphale doesn’t warn Angel!Crowley off questions because he thinks there’s something wrong with Heaven. He warns Angel!Crowley off questions because he lives in a restrictive environment with rigid rules and is terrified of (vague, unspecified) consequences. Anxious children don’t need to have erred or been punished previously in order to be afraid of punishment. They need only have an expectation (implicit from the mere existence of rules) that punishment of some sort is possible. In fact, having not been punished (because their anxiety mostly keeps them in line without need for actual adult intervention) makes the fear—not threat, but fear—of punishment that much more powerful because they don’t know what the punishment will be, and the unknown is terrifying. (What’s more, they are desperate for praise and reassurance that they won’t be punished and are doing the right thing, hence Aziraphale’s love language being words of affirmation.) Aziraphale is trying to protect the innocent, joyful angel he just met, even though he doesn’t yet know what he is protecting him from. He just knows you’re not supposed to muss the furniture, and what Angel!Crowley is suggesting feels dangerous.

Fear of the unknown explains why Aziraphale’s demeanor shows more of an edge in certain present-day scenes of S2. Thanks to his and Crowley’s post-Armaged-didn’t appearance swap, Aziraphale has now been to Hell and has a much better sense of what punishment might actually look like—not to mention a very up-close and personal understanding of exactly the kind of punishments that were intended for his beloved. Punishment is no longer a vague concept but rather a well-defined set of parameters, and Aziraphale knows how to deal with things that have edges. (Yes, that’s a flaming sword allusion, but it’s also a pointed reference to the notion that things that can be defined can be countered.) Because he can anticipate, he can plan. And planning is something Aziraphale excels at, because anxious children out of necessity grow into meticulous planners.

Having this knowledge of what punishment looks like leads our shades-of-gray angel to become less fearful for himself while simultaneously making him even more protective of Crowley. His thought process has gone from, “Punishment is big and terrifying, and I don’t know how I would cope” to “Punishment looks like this, and it sucks as much as or more than I expected, and I want my beloved to never have to endure it again.” It has also made him more protective of the innocents who are bound to get caught in the middle of Heaven and Hell’s unending conflict. Indeed, he goes truly fierce during the battle at the bookshop in a way that we have not seen before, even at the climax of S1. (While he did pull that tone with Furfur in 1941, that moment arose from disdain rather than aggression, so it’s not particularly relevant to this part.)

This also accounts for why, after his Fall, Crowley has become a demon who only “goes along with Hell as far as he can.” Angel!Crowley had no concept nor fear of punishment. Crowley now has both, but he’s already been punished in the worst way possible (loss of his angelic status and the opportunity to work on more projects like his beautiful nebulas), so he knows what punishment feels like. He knows where to toe the line and knows what to expect if/when he doesn’t. He’s not that bright and enthusiastic puppy anymore; he’s a wary old dog with a long memory, who is willing to take a stand to protect those he’s loyal to, even while he still cowers at certain types of threats (“We can run away together!”).

Angel!Crowley was punished and cast out of the restrictive home with all the plastic on the furniture, and the new house he’s been stuck in for the past 6000 years is run by the sort of abusive f*cks who beat puppies and raise them for dog fights. (I have a theory that Crowley was punished less severely than some of the other Fallen. He is, after all, one of the most beautiful demons we see, and that suggests that the person in charge of doling out punishments was more annoyed at him than angry, and so didn’t curse him with the truly nasty afflictions we see on the more repugnant of demons—like Hastur, who delights in pain, or Beelzebub, who had some leadership role in the Rebellion—but that doesn’t matter because his new home was terrible, possibly in part because of that lesser punishment. I bet that prior to the Rebellion, “Lucifer and the boys” delighted in the cliquish equivalent of “throwing sticks for the Disaster Puppy to chase,” and poor Angel!Crowley didn’t realize they weren’t really his friends so much as a different set of abusers who used attention instead of neglect. But after the Fall, they became his keepers, and his eyes were opened to a whole new level of loss and betrayal. Anyway.)

As a member of the Fallen, Crowley doesn’t remember the names of some angels/demons (Furfur, Saraqael, and yes, Aziraphale at first) but clearly remembers others (like the Metatron and Gabriel), even though they all remember him. I’ve seen suggestions that this is a trauma response or the results of a partial memory wipe, but I think it has a much simpler explanation: He only remembers the names and faces of entities who stood out to him. That enthusiastic angel who bubbled with joy and absolutely annoyed some of the other angels with his exuberance? Of course, he sticks in their memory! But they barely registered to him because they were each just one in a billion random strangers he played with in the park. The Disaster Puppy enthusiastically plays with everyone. He remembers the ones who had the power to slap him on the nose—and the one angel whose daring and kindness impressed him enough for his name to finally stick after it didn’t during their previous encounters.

At their very first meeting, Aziraphale introduces himself; Angel!Crowley doesn’t reciprocate. Names are irrelevant. He’s too caught up in his nebula to even take note of the introduction. So later, when they meet on the wall of Eden, introductions are needed again: Aziraphale because Crowley didn’t recall his name, and Crowley because he never gave his name at their first meeting (and probably never during any of their chance encounters in Heaven, because remember, Disaster Puppy just isn’t all that concerned with names), but also because even if Aziraphale did pick up Angel!Crowley’s name in passing sometime after their first meeting, he absolutely would not assume that the fallen angel still uses it. Rather than risk dead-naming him, he waits for Crowley (or Crawly, at the time) to tell him what he prefers to be called.

So, it’s obvious why Crowley didn’t remember Aziraphale’s name, but did he recognize Aziraphale at all before approaching him on the wall? I would bet on absolutely, yes, but with the vague sort of recollection of a conversation he probably should have taken a bit more to heart. He sees a being who tried at some point in the past to warn him, whose name he doesn’t recall because it didn’t seem important enough at the time, but who makes him feel comfortable enough to approach: “You tried to help me before, which means you are kinder than those other angels who didn’t, and so you probably won’t hurt me now, even though I’m Fallen. I’m feeling conflicted about this notion that knowledge of Good and Evil is a Bad Thing, and as someone who tried to advise me earlier, I feel like I can talk to you about it.” (What neither of them has yet realized is that knowledge of Good and Evil is the key to recognizing that Heaven and Hell are two ends of the same poison pill, and it’s not only humans who have been kept in the dark; a lot of the Angelic Host are also in need of some applesauce.)

All of this is why the memory-wipe theory simply doesn’t make sense. Think about it: Gabriel is the Supreme Archangel, and their intent with him was to perform the equivalent of a full hard drive wipe and reinstall of the base angelic software. They think of him as corrupted beyond repair. If even the highest of high archangels isn’t worth the massive effort of selective file deletion, why would they waste that same amount of effort on Crowley to wipe (and possibly replace) a few select memories from before the Fall? Yes, it’s clear that Crowley was an angel with a reasonably high level of access, given his ability to open the archives, but there’s absolutely no indication that he outranked Gabriel. In fact, his scorn for the Supreme Archangel is exactly the sort of scorn you’d have for someone who used to have authority over you and abused it extremely casually but was mostly the kind of negligent adult who ignored you until you were useful and/or pissed them off.

(As an aside, this also ties back to the question of why angels don’t eat while demons do. Aziraphale eats—with enthusiasm!—so clearly angels can eat, and Crowley mentions “food not that good anymore” in Heaven as part of why he started palling around with the other discontents, so angels certainly did eat at some point, but now they don’t. While Hell plainly has some sort of meal situation—not to mention a fiery beverage dispenser—we don’t see so much as a watercooler in Heaven. And well, yeah. Obviously. Because somebody in Heaven wants to keep everything pristine, so they won’t allow food anywhere near all that Heavenly furniture. It won’t kill the angels to go without meals, because they are immortal beings, so all the ban achieves is a) starvation, b) loss of pleasure, and c) control. After all, food control—control over the basic function of consuming sustenance—is a great way to exert and reinforce control over a group of beings that you want to ensure won’t rebel. And that’s really all it comes down to: Keeping everything pristine and spotless and perfect, and keeping everyone in line. Withholding the literal and metaphorical applesauce. And the Rebellion gave whoever is in charge of those decisions [my bet would be on the Metatron; God seems too self-involved to care about the furniture] the perfect excuse to change the house rules to ban food. And since it’s definitely a cult, all the ones who are deeply indoctrinated just sort of…go along with it. Anyway….)

If Aziraphale feels any guilt over Crowley’s Fall, it’s a mild twinge over the fact that he wasn’t able to convince the Disaster Puppy to stop jumping on the furniture. That’s not the primary motivating factor for why he’s so adamant about protecting Crowley at the end of S2 or at any other time in their long association. Aziraphale and Crowley are both, in their ways, protectors. That is established over and over again, throughout all of their actions and conversations. Protecting is a primary drive for each of them, something that is at the core of their beings, and it often puts them at odds over the exact same objective: Protecting the one(s) they care most about. They withhold information and behave in sometimes appalling ways to protect each other when what they really need to be doing—as they should have learned from the first Armageddon attempt—is working together to protect what they have with each other along with everything else that they love.

Because the reality is that if either one of them sacrificed themself to save the other, that very sacrifice would destroy the other. They are of one heart, and it cannot, will not live if it is not whole. But neither one fully trusts the other to coordinate a defense because of that same history and past trauma. Aziraphale thinks Crowley won’t listen to him because Angel!Crowley shrugged him off, and Crowley is still afraid of being kicked if he lets his guard down because he can see how much his beloved is still a victim of the cult programming (and Aziraphale is not above kicking if he feels panicked). Crowley doesn’t think Aziraphale will hurt him on purpose, but rather because Aziraphale doesn’t see all the angles and manipulations and therefore can’t see all of the threats—and in their conversation at the end of S2E6, the angel seemingly proves him right.

Now, here I want to pause for just a moment to address a certain type of anxiety response, because it’s vitally important to what comes next, and that is diving in without a plan. It is entirely too common for individuals with anxiety to go into a tailspin when confronted with something that feels overwhelming. This is followed by a prolonged period of recovery, which may then lead to meticulous planning to deal with the situation (if it can’t just be avoided entirely). Unfortunately, this process takes time—often too much time. This is why we sometimes see Aziraphale throw himself into situations with very little forethought or preparation (like, say, following the clues to surrounding the appearance of a certain ex-Supreme Archangel at his bookshop), because he’s tapping into a slightly more self-aware (if rather unhealthy) approach to handling things that trigger his anxiety: “I know if I get up in my head about this, it will paralyze me, and shit needs to get done, so fuck it.” He is short-circuiting the possibility of a tailspin by refusing to think before he acts. The kind of energy that accompanies this approach could easily be categorized as frantic.

When Aziraphale is telling Crowley the “good” news, he appears excited, but given one significant fact we do know—that Aziraphale is driven by anxiety—I would argue that his demeanor in this moment could more accurately be read as agitated. Now, we could debate all day what might have happened during his conversation with the Metatron to cause that agitation. It is plausible—indeed likely, given Neil’s intricate plots—that there was something more to it than we’ve been shown thus far. But we don’t need to know the details to understand Aziraphale’s response, because Aziraphale’s anxiety provides all of the necessary context. After spending several minutes enduring the direct attention of the Metatron, Aziraphale is acutely aware of one very important thing: that he and his beloved demon are, at the very least, still under intense scrutiny by his own former side, and that means they still are not, and have never been, entirely safe from Heaven or Hell’s interference. So he does what our darling Anxiety Angel always does when he is terrified and needs to act: He throws himself in before he can think too hard about what he’s throwing himself into.

So this brings us to Aziraphale’s return to Heaven.

I don’t think that Metatron’s intent is to kill Aziraphale. He will almost certainly resort to that if looks like Aziraphale won’t give him what he wants, but right now, he just sees a tool that can help him achieve his goal (provided Crowley is out of the way). Because here’s the thing: the archangels are clueless about some very important things. That has already been established (see: Job and conversations about human birth). Metatron is probably a bit less so than most, but there are things the Angels in Charge fundamentally do not understand, and they don’t know it yet, but Aziraphale is one of those things.

Metatron sees an angel who has not only lived on Earth long enough to truly understand humans, but also (and this is key) has collaborated with a demon—a tempter—and then effectively lived in the company of that tempter for the past four years. Metatron sees Aziraphale as someone who can be tempted and manipulated. That’s why he brings him coffee. He’s trying to use that. He wants a tool he can control. But he, like all of the highest of the Host, is guilty of neglect. He has never paid close enough attention to Aziraphale to see the Bastard Angel: the one who pushes back against Crowley, and even against God, who offers his own temptations, who is stubborn and implacable (much to Crowley’s frequent annoyance even while he loves it), and who isn’t afraid to stand firm in the face of Heaven, Hell, and Armageddon to protect the world and the keeper of his heart. Metatron thinks Aziraphale's resistance to Armageddon was the result of Crowley's manipulation, so he figures he'll just get Crowley out of the way or keep him too busy to interfere, and use Aziraphale for himself. Metatron is so very wrong.

As to why Aziraphale hasn’t fallen yet (and isn’t going to fall, even in S3) in spite of all of his misdeeds and mini-rebellions: it all comes down to the fallout. The Rebel Host—including the poor Disaster Puppy angel running around with them—started a war. In Heaven. They didn’t just individually act up on occasion in ways that could be ignored. They engaged in a violent and bloody act of rebellion. The Fall wasn’t about the small sins; it was about the big one. They messed up the furniture. They had to go. Aziraphale’s not messing up the furniture—yet. By the time he starts, it will be far too late for Heaven to do anything to stop him.

See, that smile at the end of S2E6? It’s not pleasure at taking charge, and it’s not determination to fix Heaven. It’s a mask. Aziraphale spent that elevator ride bottling up his pain and hiding it down deep. Anxiety children become adults who are masters of repression, and he just went through his whole panic attack and packed away his grief in the elevator, while holding a straight face (a very tense, grief-stricken face—it’s all there in the micro-expressions, or rather, the desperate attempt at suppression of all macro- and micro-expressions, about which I could write a whole separate post—but essentially a straight face nonetheless). I would bet my immortal soul that he put on that smile right when the elevator stopped, just before the doors started to open. Heaven is about to learn the hard way why choosing Aziraphale was their fatal mistake. Because the Bastard Angel is broken and angry, and he’s done with their bullshit rules and their plastic-covered furniture. Maybe he pushed Crowley away to protect him. Maybe he really wanted Crowley to come with him to try to change things from the inside. None of that matters. All of the maybes that happened before Metatron came back to collect Aziraphale are irrelevant. Because Metatron doesn’t understand Aziraphale, and he just tipped his hand when he spoke the words “Second Coming.” Aziraphale has long since realized that Heaven is toxic—that’s what he wants to fix—but until that moment he didn’t have the context Crowley had to know why Gabriel left. But he has just learned that his love, his heart, and his world are in mortal danger, and he will stop at nothing to save them. Heaven hath no fury like an angel with a broken heart.

Aziraphale has never worried that Crowley was ever made to forget him. He’s intelligent and observant. He noted that initial un-introduction (and was even a bit disappointed by it), so he knows why Crowley doesn’t remember his name when they meet on the wall of Eden. Their coded-language dance around the depth of their association has never been about fear of rejection over imagined faults but rather the very real threats from their respective Home Offices, which they are too wary to immediately forget even after thwarting Armageddon and their own executions. (They are right not to trust that sense of peace!) It has taken them four years to let down their guards even the tiniest bit, and they are still speaking in code—hence the ball: It's Aziraphale's confession of love without saying the words out loud, because it still doesn't feel entirely safe. And he’s not going to Heaven to throw himself on some sacrificial alter to fix a mistake he thinks he made 6000 years ago by failing to keep an angel who barely acknowledged him from falling in with the rest of the Rebel Host. He’s just doing what he’s always done: trying his best to protect the innocent from Heaven’s caprice.

Only this time, he knows his own heart is innocent too.

[digitaldoeslmk]

I find it interesting that MK basically has to learn the opposite lesson his mentor did when it comes to violence. from what I understand swk slowly learned that not all conflicts had to be solved with bloodshed. and MK has to find peace with the fact that not all conflicts can be solved peacefully. People minds can't always be changed, not every villain is broken/misunderstood/misguided, and sometimes people are just pure evil. its no wonder his mental health is unstable, and i'm sure swk isn't thrilled seeing this sweet kid have to struggle so much with it.

yes!!!! yes you got it!!!!! :D

on a deep level too, JTTW has a running theme that the more violent one's response to a crime, the more violent is the reprisal for that response if it fails. the whole arc of the Havoc in Heaven is about a monkey and yaoguai warlord being thrown into an environment he wasn't equipped or prepared to handle the expectations of, and that punishing him instead of properly preparing him for his role has consequences. also you can interpret it in a symbolic way: as Wukong is the Mind Monkey, the restless and unrestrained human mind, you can't punish yourself into becoming better, you must stop, learn, and understand your situation before moving forward. otherwise what you get is just, a mess spiritually and mentally.

meanwhile, MK was brought up in a very loving and understanding environment. yes, the show portrays his friends and family (Pigsy and Tang are his dads, you cannot change my mind) as far from perfect, but they are altogether a circle that loves and supports each other even through their mistakes, and it's their flaws that makes them stronger. however, in esoteric Buddhism there's the concept of a ruthless compassion, in that sometimes you need a heavy hand to stir people towards the right path; in this article my friend JTTWR shares how even Wukong's golden fillet is a display of that concept.

and yes, an understanding and kind approach can take you very far; in my au, MK manages to befriend and help turn around most of the enemies he encounters, not unlike the show! but sometimes, that's not enough, and sometimes, it only makes things worse and drags you down with them. sometimes, violence is a valid and even necessary answer for the good of the majority.

as for Wukong... as a bodhisattva, he knows that suffering is necessary for learning and that he can't shield MK from everything. one must face adversity to learn to overcome it. but as a grandpa himself, he's not keen on the suffering of beings, much less those close to him. he can offer an ear to MK's vents, a shoulder to cry on, a hug, a joke, a few matches of games to take his mind off things. MK needs to learn these harsh lessons, but Wukong's not letting him do it by himself.

[furiousgoldfish]

For anyone who believes abuse is normal, inevitable, necessary, good to 'toughen you up' or something you deserved:

There are children out there who were never asked to accept 'tough love' as love. They've been given affection, acknowledgment, gentleness, consideration and care. And they're healthy and happy for it. They're not struggling to feel worthy of having their needs fulfilled. They are not weak, and they do not struggle with feeling weak for having a human need.

There are children out there who have done and said things, much worse than you've said and done, who've been forgiven. Their parents, or caretakers, understood they were kids, and that their intentions were those of a child, and forgave them without punishment, understanding that children need to be safe before being convenient. These children did not end up doing worse things. They grew up knowing compassion and not being scared their actions might bring unimaginable consequences.

There are children raised with a concept of freedom, who could choose their actions without worrying about being inconvenient or punished. There are children whose choices are supported, whose achievements are celebrated, and their chosen life path is lit up by the care and resources their families help provide to them. They don't have to live in secret. They don't have to feel ashamed about what they want. They don't need to do it all alone. They don't life in fear of failure.

There are parents out there who understand their role is to make their child protected and healthy. There are parents who never even thought about hitting their kids. There are parents who will do anything to prevent their child going thru the horrors of violence, aggression, someone lashing out at them, threats or abuse. These children walk the world feeling safer, like they belong, their humanity and feelings protected from harm.

There is a whole world out there that believes no child has deserved any of this harm. Only some people do these things to kids, only some people try to convince kids that these are 'good' things, or deserved things. They are not.

You deserved safety, dignity and grace growing up too. You deserved more than the hollow 'tough love' which was merely an excuse for not giving you the care you deserved. You would have turned out just fine. Abuse wasn't necessary, it wasn't normal, and it didn't help you. And it was avoidable. Nobody ever had to do any of that to you.

[alchemistofthenewage]

How to Empower young children

For progressive parents, teachers and adults

Let them know that adults don’t have all the answers

Encourage free thinking and originality.

Let their opinions be heard and known. Don’t agree or disagree, create a judgement-free space for them to express and explore their ideas.

Give them choices and let them make small-level decisions for themselves.

Explain the consequences of an action in a factual way, not based on your negative past experiences. There are multiple probabilities and the child may not have the same experience as you did. You can however let them know about your fears around an experience, but also let them know that their experience is personal to them and will yield its own unique outcomes.

Give them pointers and directions to explore a certain concept by themself. Be a mentor and encourage them to ask questions while keeping the answers open-ended, ones that lead to further introspection for the child. A good answer is one that leads to more questions and digging in deeper rather than putting a dead-end to the exploration process.

The more briefly you can say something, the more clearly you have understood a subject and the better you can explain it to the child.

Children are full of energy and trying to calm them down is a futile effort. They have kinetic energy that requires them to move around, have space to play, run and have fun in their body while growing up. Don’t restrict their free movement or try to control them, instead give them ample opportunity to express this energy through their limbs as this is an important aspect of their physical development. In the early ages, growing physically happens before mental development, and hence is a greater priority, always remember that.

Teach your kids how to ask for their needs and be respectful of how you listen to them when they are expressing a need to you. Some needs are essential while others are less urgent, teach them the difference between the two and assure them that their essential needs will never be compromised and they must be loud and vocal about them, no matter who they are around.

Kids don’t understand the moods and issues of the adults around them. Help them understand what to expect and where and why you do what you do so they aren’t clueless about what’s going on. Don’t be afraid to speak about your vulnerable feelings with them in a polite way to help them understand better.

Never use aggression to control your child, be it verbal or passive aggressive as well. Children are very sensitive and only respond positively to the language of love. Using fear tactics on them is the fastest way to dis-empower them as individuals and turn them into a punishment-fearing restricted child instead of an authentic, happy and liberated child.

Give up the convenience of a quick fix and adopt approaches that will actually help empower children around us. You don’t have to be hard on yourself or be fake, start by just understanding things and being open to new ideas.

[thenamesblurrito]

assorted Transformers fics to rec (part two!)

first list here! have more fics i missed the first time or discovered since then or were recommended to me by others! if you decide to read these, i recommend leaving a comment if you can to encourage the writers and show some love! 🥰 note: the ones marked with * were ones i read a long time ago and did not reread before adding them to this list, so i am going off the good vibes in my memory

An Act of Revenge for Crimes Uncommitted

canon soup, incomplete, AO3. young Orion Pax wakes up mutilated, empurata'd, and his assailants punished him for the crimes of one Optimus Prime. ooooo this is kind of heartwrenching, truly intriguing and unjust and mmmmm drama. time travel, gore, mind the tags here, a fascinating look at a bad timeline! some of the functionism stuff in here actually helped inspire my own functionist setup in SNAP

Blackout and Reboot

canon soup, complete multichap, AO3. amnesia was not on the table when Thundercracker agreed to go undercover as a human. giant robot aliens weren't on the table when Marissa took it upon herself to help the weirdest guy she'd ever met. it's a match made in heaven. i love this fic okay it's got some fantastic wth moments and TC being TC and Marissa being awesome and just. i like it. the writing could use some technical polish but the action and plot concept are good, and the fun alien/human interactions are my jam. has a sequel i haven't read

Canonfodder*

TFP, incomplete, Spacebattles. a series of harrowing updates from a poor hapless nobody isekai'd into the body of a Vehicon on dead Cybertron, and all the nonsense that spirals from there. i like this one, the pacing can get a lil jagged and the technical skill of the writing is a bit off but that's often the nature of these forum fics, i didn't mind it. definitely love the inclusion of Kup, and space video games, and the limited but interesting choices the protag can make when presented with such a dismal situation makes for a very compelling, journal-style story. if you don't know how to navigate forum fics like this, just use the links in the first post to skip to each snippet

Catching Feelings

TFA, oneshot with sequel, AO3. Bumblebee and Charlie are clearly a Thing, so what's Optimus doing thinking about her so much? honestly i just like this ship concept especially in a TFA context, it's very cute and awwwww poor Op, sorry you're experiencing emotions!

Commonality and Misunderstandings

canon soup, incomplete, AO3. a collection of scenes showing just how humans and mecha can figure each other out, no matter how wide the cross-cultural divide. this is cute! i like the human OCs and the shenanigans. talks about gender perceptions, has some mech-preg mentions, and hits some good emotional moments

the consequences of being a vehicle on Earth - even if only as a part-timer

TFA, oneshot, AO3. out of everyone who has to deal with the legality of autonomous sentient vehicles, it's Fanzone. dear god, save him. a very funny little read that honestly addresses some things i constantly wonder about re: driving laws and the bots. nothing more tortuous than the DMV!

Curious Thing, Isn't It?

vaguely G1, oneshot, AO3. the Ark crew, freshly crashed on Earth and uncomprehending of English, discover one of the tiny squishy native inhabitants. a very cute little scene, i love the variety of reactions and how they treat the kid they found

A Fourth to Remember

G1, oneshot, AO3. it's the 4th of July, and Wheeljack has taken it upon himself to make a fireworks show. lovely little story of his typical nonsense taken large-scale, and some interesting culture collision too!

The Great Space Opera

IDW/TFP crossover, incomplete, AO3. Brainstorm does a whoopsie and uh oh, is that Team Prime in the Lost Light? only a little bit written but VERY fun and i love the mindbending reactions of Ratchet meeting Ratchet. the whole premise is just. mwah

Introduction to Cybertronian Biomechanics

canon soup, incomplete, AO3. a small collection of medical essays and articles detailing a breakdown of anatomy. really fascinating, very coherent explanation that manages to condense canon and fanon into something understandable, perhaps even plausible!

Liberty Island's Decisive Battle: Godzilla vs Trypticon!

Aligned/Godzilla crossover, oneshot, AO3. when Trypticon is resurrected by dark energon and heads towards New York, Fowler remembers a certain other giant lizard monster that might be able to help. Rescue Bots cameo, Miko gets to speak Japanese, Godzilla is awesome, this is just the fic ever

Malto Family Search & Rescue

ES, oneshot, AO3. a Decepticon named Thundercracker shows up at the Malto home in the middle of the night to beg a vital favor: help find his lost dog! SUCH a cute and good and wonderful little fic that fits right in to canon!! i love TC and i love the Malto family interactions and just. oogh lovely little fic. has sequels that i am saving for a rainy day pick me up

marriages of convenience (and the inconvenience of explaining them)

IDW, oneshot, AO3. Minimus is a widower. this fun fact is dropped rather unceremoniously. the painful awkwardness is marvelously in character, there are feelings and funnies and an uncomfortably heartfelt discussion about this matter-of-fact revelation that manages to characterize each of them so well, especially Minimus

Murder Mystery Night

IDW, oneshot, AO3. it's NIGHTBEAT'S NIGHT, BABY! lovely little mystery following around the Lost Light's greatest detective when a fun game night is abruptly shut down by a real actual murder! can Nightbeat find the killer in time?

nothing is more sacred than any other thing

vaguely G1, oneshot, AO3. Skyfire is a nerdy scientist with nerdy friends, which means most shenanigans surrounding him are nerdy. very cute and fun little fic about friends and mushrooms and Starscream being duped! first in a series of oneshots that i haven't gotten around to reading yet but look equally lovely

Objectification

G1, oneshot, AO3. a human and a Cybertronian have very different opinions on who exactly the victim is in an oversexualized music video. stupid funny and good, just the way i like it! last line kills me

Optimus Prime is Destined to Die!!

canon soup AU, incomplete, AO3. poor little Orion is isekai'd into a Cybertronian fantasy light novel as one of the soon-to-die forgettable side characters: the cold prince Optimus Prime. supposed to be MegOp but that hasn't really shown up yet. fantastic premise i leapt at immediately, with interesting royal politics and classic isekai tropey vibes. it's a little slow in places from a lot of (warranted!) purple prose introspection, but i find it cool enough to read through and follow poor Orion adjusting to his new existence!

Return Me to the Stars

TFA AU, incomplete, AO3. when a near-dead little Prime is picked up by the Nemesis, it sparks a lot of shenanigans, mysteries, and interesting political developments, all thanks to Optimus being Optimus. i really love the way this fic is developing, with a terrified Autobot in enemy territory doing the best he can, an expanded cast of Decepticons, a lot of fun worldbuilding, and very engaging and dynamic interactions. features a good bit of whump for our tough lil Prime. tagged as MegOP which is still slowly developing, pretty realistically taking their time to find some kind of even footing without breaking their characterization which i greatly appreciate! the writing itself could use some spellchecking but the plot and pacing are very engaging nonetheless

Scaredy-Car

G1, oneshot, AO3. i love a good comedic misunderstanding and boy the assumptions people are making about Breakdown are WHOOF. kinda cracky, a smidgeon dirty, and just the right amount of loserness that is the entirety of the Decepticon army

The Season of the Smallest Stars

sorta IDW/Stardew Valley crossover?, incomplete, AO3. you weren't expecting a small troop of adorable little robots to help you with your farmwork. a very soft cute little fic, i love it!!! never played SV but it's easy enough to follow along anyway, and i love the cute beeping Lost Light bots helping out our farmer

Second Star From Morning

technically IDW, incomplete, AO3. only a little bit written but SELF INSERT BABYYYYYYYYY gotta love it when your protagonists are aware that this is in fact a fictional character! the panic, the questions, the wahuh?? captivating premise, i hope the author comes back to it someday

Skywarp And The Wonders Of The Unnatural World

G1, oneshot, AO3. their summary sums it up best: "The Elite Trine have a very serious and mature debate on the existence of mythical creatures." extremely funny to me, i LOVE when they're stupid and petty and catty and silly!! Skywarp is so dumb i love him so much

Small Problems*

G1, ongoing series, AO3. average human Crystal finds some shrunken Autobots lost in the big city, and her life only gets weirder from there. an OC-centric series that--spoilers for later in the series--may have been one of the original "human turned into Transformer" fics! the whole series goes from sweet and funny to heartwrenching and angsty, with a lot of in between. i love the OC and sympathize with the horrible things she ends up going through, and also the heights to which she rises! slowburn Prowl/OC, with a bit of love triangle with Jazz in there too (funfact this was the second ever piece of media in which i encountered Blurr)

Sparkless

TFP, incomplete, AO3. a Vehicon left behind finds itself fixed up by a human, and might just gain some personhood along the way. a VERY sweet little story oogh i love this Vehicon!! poor thing i want to give them hot chocolate and a blankie. it's a lovely story with an intriguing premise

Stop Me*

TFP, incomplete (but with over 200 chapters), FFN. Starscream nearly dies at the claws of the Predacons... and then he's alive again, in the past, as if none of that ever happened. a rather (in?)famous fic in the fandom, i've found, although when i first read it i didn't know that. a very interesting take on a Starscream redemption AU, paired with some fascinating outlier power moments! a little bit wooby about Screamer (maybe a lot wooby?), a lot of whump, a lot of emotion, maybe some hints of StarOP idk if that's become an actual ship since i last checked. ymmv on this one depending on your Starscream opinions but i was hooked for the whole time for sure! i need to catch up, it's technically still updating. also the author has another, shorter, complete Starscream redemption fic which i also enjoyed, check that out too

A Streetcar Named Traitor

G1, oneshot, AO3. Megatron doesn't take Starscream's defection well and Optimus has had enough. very stupid, very funny, makes me cackle as Megsy gets dunked on

Sudden Active Development... I certainly feel SAD at the moment*

TFP, incomplete, Spacebattles. another isekai forum fic, this time somebody gets dropped into the body of Nemesis Prime and has to deal with running around as an Optimus lookalike! i like the misunderstandings and the process of adapting to a strange new body. some stilted dialogue, and it gets a little weird about gender perception but i can gloss over that. ramps up with more canon characters, a sprinkling of OCs, and completely taking canon off the rails within the last few posts! this one has threadmarks for easy navigation

Turning Points*

vaguely G1 AU, incomplete, FFN. Prowl was one of the most brilliant tacticians among the Decepticons, and then they destroyed his home. it's gonna be a long climb into the good graces of the Autobots for this defector. an absolutely fantastic character driven piece with a brilliant premise, i love how Prowl is written. and the politics of defecting and dealing with a security hazard, mmmmm good!

An Uneasy Partnership*

sorta G1/Armada/canon soup?, ongoing series, FFN. Alexis keeps an unruly Starscream in her barn. this can only go well. this series is WILD, it escalates and gets worse and then better and then worse again, you root for Screamer and then you hate him, poor Alexis is on a constant horrid rollercoaster but hey, (spoilers), she gets a cool robot body and also a tyrant king boyfriend out of it??? but man is it a long, manipulative, whumpy road to get there. the powerplays and emotional turmoil in their dynamic just keep going and it's fascinating, although probably not for you if you don't like bad power imbalances. it's the end of the world as we know it and whatever comes on the other end is going to be only as good as you make of it. i think this series may also be sort of (in)famous in the fandom? idk i don't pay attention that well

Untitled

IDW, drabble, tumblr. in an unexpected meetcute, Minimus finds himself rescuing Rung. honestly it's just a quick little concept of a conversation but it has captivated me and i'm obsessed with it

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E18: The Maze

Tubbs is sent undercover to save hostages in an abandoned hotel.

This is absolutely one of those Vice episodes where you are given two versions of the truth and are asked to be discerning enough to realize which one is real. Vice likes doing this a lot with music-- you see something happening on screen that's contradicted by lyrics or musical tone, and you have to figure out if what you're seeing is the lie or whether it's what you're hearing. In The Maze, we are presented with a spoken truth (some people aren't "good enough" to be cops, the world is hard and dangerous, a kid with a gun can't be thought of as a kid ever again) and a witnessed truth (a "bad cop" is suffers no consequences because he's a cop, people you think of as disposable or even frightening are worth protecting, a kid with a gun may be dangerous but that doesn't make him not a child) to striking, devastating effect. There's a distinct sense in this episode that our protagonists are playing proscribed black and white roles in a drama they're not quite ready to see shades of gray in yet-- later in the series their disenchantment with the justice system will come, but in this point in the series, they don't quite see what we, the audience see.

I started this one thinking "it's always weird seeing other cops outside of the main squad," and then one of them immediately died

Womp womp

The two "new" cops, Tim and Dickie, are talking about how they finally made some "real arrests," and how they usually can't get charges to stick because something-something-the-law, and that it's because of guys like them that the area they're in is starting to get "cleaned up"

Immediately Sonny and Rico correct them, very gently explaining the concept of community organizing, and pointing out that whatever "clean up" they've seen happen recently has nothing to do with the cops and everything to do with the people who live here deciding to stand up for themselves and invest in their neighborhoods

This is the thesis of the episode

From here on in it becomes a split between Tim's tough-on-crime view (what's said) and Sonny and Rico's maybe-heavier-policing-isn't-the-answer view (what's shown)

The dancing guy, Pepe, is played by a choreographer known by the real-world name of Shabba-Doo

Sonny pours water on him because Sonny is an asshole

There is a scene in which Switek offers Zito lunch while Zito tries to pick up a woman through the window of the bug van; both of them tell the other they're "pitching" and I. I have questions

Tim, the asshole cop whose partner got shot, suggests that the best way to catch the criminals that killed Dickie is to just go into a building full of squatters guns blazing, random innocents be damned

Sonny glares at him like he is a leopard and Tim is a plate of ground beef

They decide to, instead, send Tubbs undercover in to see if he can clear the squatters out and get them to safety before they go after the Escobars. In order to do this they dress Tubbs up as the world's most beautiful filthy transient. He looks like he should play Jesus in a modern version of Jesus Christ Superstar

It should be mentioned that the ~*scary dangerous building*~ the homeless people and the Escobars are in is a dilapidated hotel owned by a rich white guy who's on the phone about golf when we meet him, and it turns out the only thing really scary about it is that the people inside are living in terrible conditions because they are poor. In case, y'know, other parts of the episode weren't already clear enough on the whole "maybe the system is broken, actually" angle.

After Tubbs is in the hotel for approximately three and a half minutes, Tim charges across the street with his gun because it's "ridiculous" that this is "taking so long"

He completely ruins the operation and causes an immediate gunfight between the police and the Escobars to break out; Tubbs and the rest of the squatters are taken hostage as a result. Tim is not punished for this-- Castillo says that if he "didn't need every man," Tim would be sent home, but that's it.

Let's be very clear, this is a perfect example of why the whole "one bad apple ruins the whole bunch" thing is 100% true about the police

You get one Tim the Asshole on your squad and people fucking die

Actor Joe Morton, who I best know as Henry Deacon from Eureka, but who others may know better as the SkyNet Scientist from Terminator 2, plays hostage negotiator Jack Davis. He has a big ol' stick up his ass, but he's kind of hot anyway?

Sonny smokes like twelve cigarettes in the course of about 3 minutes, and then goes outside because he can't stand to look at Tim any longer. Castillo makes an attempt to comfort him in his extremely Castillo way (he's the one who says the Escobars, who are a bunch of teenagers, "stopped stopped being kids when they started using guns"), which does not seem to calm Sonny down much. He tells him the best thing he can do for Tubbs is "be cool," and then there's a lovely little match on Sonny's face and Rico's face, both looking off to the side, both looking worried.

The graffiti in this episode slays me

666 is COMIN

Why ME

Rico plays with the child hostages, and a teenage girl dances to the music playing inside her head. I genuinely feel like this is one of the saddest episodes of Vice-- we see the squalid conditions these people are forced to live in, they're humanized and made very real feeling, even if they don't have many lines, and you know that even if they all get out alive, nothing good is going to come of it, because they've been living illegally inside an unused building and the police will have to remove them, leaving them all completely homeless. There are multiple shots throughout the episode of the beach-- its crystal blue water, the sun, the pristine sand, palm trees-- through the broken windows of the collapsing hotel. The squatters are bereft in an ostensible paradise, completely disconnected from the glamorous world outside their crumbling walls.

Sonny suggests that they pinpoint the exact location of the hostages; Tim asks why they should bother when it was the hostages who "got them into this."

Yes Tim

Definitely not you, fuckwad

When Davis negotiates to let the small children hostages go, Jaime, one of the Escobars, argues with one of the older boys that "they're just kids," and that they should do as the police said and let them free. Jaime appears to be about fourteen.

Sonny insists he go in to find the hostages; Davis stands behind him shaking his head no at Castillo. Sonny goes in to find the hostages. He climbs over a fence and through a hole in the wall in his loafers and chinos.

When Sonny figures out where the hostages are located, they send in what appears to be the entire national guard of Florida. The Escobars, it should be noted, are five teenagers.

At the end of the episode, approximately twenty adult men with machine guns point their weapons at one teenage boy. He breaks down in tears and falls to the ground, because no matter what Castillo said, he is ultimately a frightened child.

The episode ends on a freeze frame of Sonny and Rico looking at each other, silent, with the darkening blue sky behind them.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Related to the post I made yesterday, one thing that really showcases how much a non-issue killing is in Warrior Cats is the complete lack of set punishment for it. For example, Appledusk (accidentally) kills two Thunderclan warriors, one of them the deputy. And the biggest consequences from that are to his side-piece and his illegitimate kids. There is no reaction from his own clan for breaking the code nor is Thunderclan asking for any punishment for him. It is just treated as an acceptable thing that happens in battles. DESPITE the Warrior Code stating that it very much is not. Or Badgerfang. A Windclan warrior kills him and the biggest issue presented is the grief his mentor feels over the death. Not that Windclan broke the code. Or how Stonefur died. While Tigerstar IS a tyrant, Stonefur's parental relationship (which is not a code break on his part) matters more than the rule about killing. There are many, MANY more examples I could list but the core issue remains that the act of murder that is explicitly forbidden in the Warrior Code is never punished nor justice sought for the victims. You know when justice was called for? When Jayfeather had to leave Flametail to die. Something that was purely an accident between the non-combatants is put much more weight on than intended murder. While this might be a bit of a high concept for Warriors, I am amazed the clans don't have a system of weregild set up. Since deaths happen so often, there should be reparations paid for the clan wronged. And yet, if a she-cat steps one paw out of line, the very ancestors of the clans punish them somehow. While male characters have to be basically blatant tyrants to get any payback from their ancestors.

[yanderes-galore]

what about this for event request: in an 2012 AU, after Splinter was controlled by the Rat King, the Turtles saved him, but although Splinter had his free will again, he became insane and violent. So, do you think you could do a little concept/discussion about this version of Splinter

Sure! Platonic as usual.

Yandere! Platonic! Rat King Aftermath! Splinter Concept

(Halloween Event - Insanity)

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Murder implied, Violence, Injury, Blood, Punishment, Implied kidnapping, Overprotective behavior, Sadism, Platonic Yandere.

- This is really scary to think about, honestly.

- Splinter does indeed have his free will back, but there's times where he isn't himself.

- Sometimes he's the usual Splinter, caring towards you and the turtles.

- Other times he is... unhinged.

- This Splinter gets excited at fighting instead of using it as a last ditch effort.

- To the point he likes to see people bleed and fatally wounded at his hands.

- This Splinter is a monster, one that likes to taste blood.

- The Rat King may be gone for now, but he left behind some bloodshed in Splinter.

- Despite this, he still retains parental traits towards you.

- At the times where he acts like his usual self, you feel safe.

- He's caring and keeps his morals.

- He loves you and his sons with all his heart.

- He's normal, the Splinter you always knew.

- Training is safe, he looks so tired but he's him.

- Then there's moments where he snaps.

- Examples including when one of you disobey or someone hurts you.

- Then he just gets... sadistic.

- He pushes the turtles to the brink in training, his discipline is harsher, he laughs at pain.

- He's so different compared to how he was before the Rat King incident.

- He isn't as feral like when the Rat King controlled him, he's certainly not normal either.

- He tries not to be violent towards you and the rest of his family, although, if you disobey-

- You'll have a wound somewhere and the turtles find you locked in the "room" he made for you.

- You have to be careful around him when he's in such a violent state.

- Later, the true Splinter comes in to apologize and check up on you.

- He himself is ashamed of such behavior and has no idea what causes it.

- He doesn't even know if it's curable.

- In response he may try to warn you of it ahead of time.

- Just so you can stay out of the way and not get hurt.

- Atleast, that was the original plan, until the turtles noticed the more violent Splinter keeps asking about you and searching for you.

- So, instead, you're forced to coexist with Splinter while waiting out the violence.

- He responds well to you when you act behaved, luckily.

- Treat him how you usually treat him along with the turtles and you'll be okay.

- Even when he craves violence, he adores his family.

- Even when he violently mauls someone who hurt his family, he still turns to you with an affectionate gaze.

- He loves you even if his mind is that of a monster's.

- You may be terrified of his behavior, you may even hide behind the turtles, yet he still acts like he's a father to all of you.

- Again, if you had a family before, don't let Splinter find out.

- By this point he sees you as his kid, anyone else is not your parent.

- If you want to keep your old family alive say nothing about them to Splinter.

- Even in a docile state he'll snap.

- Safe to say, overall, this Splinter is worse than how the usual Platonic! Yandere! Splinter is.

- He goes from the usual overprotective parent to murderous overprotective parent.

- He doesn't care what happened in the past to get him to this point.

- He doesn't even care if you and the turtles view him as a monster.

- All he cares about is keeping his family safe, no matter the consequences.