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lord-squiggletits · 9 months

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Something I keep seeing when I speak to others about MTMTE Megatron is basically the idea that he's going on a personal journey to become a better person, that the point isn't for him to be "redeemed" but for him to get a chance to do good and die as a person he can live with again. That MTMTE presents a unique take on this because being away from Cybertron gives Megatron a chance to be a person rather than a political figure and this is how it gives him more depth as a character. Or just generally pointing out in a narrative sense that Megatron being in MTMTE limits his story options so of course his story is going to be more focused on a personal journey than on politics of him dealing with the Decepticons/Earth/etc and that just because JRO made a choice to take that path with Megatron doesn't mean that it's inherently bad.

And I'm just, mmm like I understand all of those points and acknowledge that they all contributed to the MTMTE Megatron we got. I even think that without JRO writing Megatron we wouldn't have had his lore be as fleshed out and 3D as it ended up becoming.

(Post starts out as a sort of meta analysis or at least me giving a reasoned explanation for my interpretation of the story, ends up being petty bitching in the last 1-2 paragraphs)

I just..... I just personally don't agree with the "he's becoming a better person by getting a chance to relax and experience happiness and trust after a life of trauma" as being the best choice for his character? Because the problem is that maybe if he were a random Decepticon foot soldier that would be appropriate, but he was literally the leader of the Decepticons that made them Like That and has political/cultural/societal responsibility for why things are the way they are? To be completely frank, I don't care about him going on a personal journey for self-peace, I think that he should become a better person by helping to un-fuck all the things he actually screwed up???

Like idc about the debate of whether he can be "redeemed" or if he should've been killed/imprisoned/etc at the ending. It just comes down to the fact that for me personally, I feel that since Megatron's wrongdoings were at a social level, him "being a better person" would've been better shown by him engaging with those people who he wronged instead of just going on a frigging personal journey for his legacy and self-peace???

Especially since in other series (exRID, possibly Windblade) we literally got plots like "the neutrals hate Autobots but they hate Decepticons even more" and "the Decepticons have been taken over by Galvatron and are now invading earth 2 electric boogaloo" and "yeah the Decepticons are literally living in slums because people hate them so much and won't give them any work." It just leaves me wondering why in the hell people are like, "oh Megatron got to be happy and have a chance to be a normal person." I don't want him to be normal! I want him to repay his debts to the people he actually wronged! Like if you want to cast Megatron as a hero of the people so badly (which so many of his stans do as if he actually cared about the Cons) then how do you reconcile the fact that Megatron just fucked off and left the Decepticons to suffer on Cybertron? Including some of them attacking during his trial and getting killed and Megatron is basically like "sorry, I'm not coming with you and this isn't going to work." And then Megatron complains about "toxic Decepticon loyalty" as if he didn't literally make them that way? Like I get that MTMTE Megatron is still an asshole but if you've read something besides MTMTE and know what the Decepticons are going through, it just ends up being really grating.

I just don't see Megatron as being a particularly good hero or having a particularly fulfilling story if he's completely isolated from all the bad things he did on Cybertron/the way the Decepticons are suffering until LL#25 where it's like "ah damn I'm going to trial now, well this is what I deserve so it's fine." Why could we not have seen something like Megatron trying to deradicalize the Decepticons or change their public image so they could integrate into normal Cybertron again? They were living in SLUMS and getting gunned down by Starscream's badgeless enforcers!

The best we got was the Functionist Universe but like.... I'm sorry, but JRO inventing a whole alternate universe for Megatron to save doesn't do jack shit to save or fix the people he left behind in this one. It was especially grating to read because JRO literally wrote in someone saying "you saved billions of lives from the Functionists" as if he was trying really hard to show how good Megatron is because he saved people (and also if not for Megatron existing Cybertron would be even worse and half of your faves would be enslaved or dead, also the Functionist Council was going to genocide organics too so technically they're WORSE than Megatron since they hate organics AND want to enslave their own race).

I read Barber's, JRO's, and MScott's series concurrently using the omnibus + a release order list for phase 3, and after all that I'm kind of puzzled why the fandom seems to ardently love MTMTE Megatron and think he's so well written but then also shit on Optimus for things that he did during the same points in the story? Because, and I know this is a blazing hot take, I honestly think that Optimus makes a better hero of his story than Megatron does for his, and Optimus' personal journey combines his personal and political identities into a narrative that's a lot more gruelling and questioning of his goodness than we got for Megatron in MTMTE. Which is fucking saying something considering Megatron committed crimes against sapient species and Optimus is the guy who tried to stop him from doing that and has always been pro-equal rights for all beings. But people pretty much just cherrypick things like Optimus annexing Earth or beating up Prowl and go "he's bad" and I'm like no??? IDW OP isn't a bad person or a bad character??? It's just that unlike MTMTE Megatron he's placed in a narrative that actually suits the nature of his actions and has themes that match. To the point that IMO sometimes Barber's narrative shits on Optimus excessively or paints him mainly in the most unflattering ways.

But like. It's just funny to me because Optimus spent his entire part of the story doing things like trying to stop Earth from being invaded/colonized yet again. Grappling with his identity as Prime and dealing with the fact that people literally worship him vs. the fact that his upbringing made him see the Primacy as nothing more than a facade of authority/leadership. Having people get mad at him for prioritizing politics over friendship/relationships with other people. Even getting shit on for being a cop a decent amount so people can STFU about IDW OP being "copaganda" or "not held responsible for his actions". The problems that Optimus dealt with were personal because they had to do with his self-doubt, culpability for the war as a leader of one of the armies, distance from his soldiers, etc. But all of these are also POLITICAL struggles. Because Optimus gave up on the chance to just be a normal person having personal struggles when he chose to become a LEADER, which also means that he's held to extremely high standards that he regularly fails at in the eyes of others.

That's why, to me, MTMTE Megatron falls flat in comparison and really as a "hero" or heel-face character in general? Because he also made a decision to be a leader, and IMO once you do things like become the commander of an army and start your own galactic empire, you lose the right to prioritize your personal problems and instead are obligated by the power you've chosen to wield to focus on your POLITICAL problems. If Megatron's power, influence, and crimes are of a social-political nature, then his heel-face turn arc and ways of showing that he's a better person/helping to heal what little damage he possibly can should have been shown with actions that help on a social-political LEVEL. That's why I'm not particularly impressed with his character arc and feel as if it was overhyped by other people in this fandom: sure, the extra character depth and emotion is nice, but I'm not really going to see him as extraordinary or even particularly good when the extent of him "becoming a better person" happens entirely on a random road trip to fuck-off nowhere. Especially not when the ending of LL tried to sell me a "they lived happily ever after" ending while basically leaving the freaking MUTINY as just Rodimus going "oh it's okay you're forgiven, we're all together again" and I guess everyone was fine with Megatron and wanted to spend an eternity on a ship with him just because Getaway died.

This is why I like (the concept/themes of) exRID/OP and the way Optimus' character arc was handled a lot more. Because for Optimus, the personal and the political were as one. He was held accountable for his actions towards others and the disruptive effects they had on a social level, sometimes to a ridiculous extent (the fucking "oh Megatron is an Autobot so now that makes the Autobots colonizers" plot and that stupid colonist screaming about how Optimus is "literally fascist" my beloathed). Even his very personal issues like his relationship with Zeta were still cast in a wider lens of, yeah this is a personal struggle that Orion faced, but he was still part of a Society TM and his actions were sometimes ill-informed or harmful to others. Even if I had a lot of problems with the way Optimus' story was written by Barber (plot holes, little meaningful character interaction, forced conflicts), at least the BASELINE of it was way better than Megatron's in MTMTE. Especially since Optimus' struggle was explictly about things like struggling with responsibility and how he feels he HAS to intervene in political affairs because has to save people/make up for his past mistakes. That's something that a good leader/good person actually does, so I found Optimus to be a better hero (even if his actions weren't all "good") because he was trying to be a good person by actually getting involved with Cybertron/Earth and subjecting himself to something he hates (leadership, war) and dealing with a shitload of criticism instead of just going on a fuckin "personal journey" lksdlkfsd.

Which just makes me extra salty that people hold up MTMTE Megatron as the pinnacle of Megatrons and literally the best Transformers writing evar! while turning up their nose and ignoring or outright despising IDW Optimus. Like okay. I guess since Megatron got handled with silk gloves on while Optimus got put through the wringer of being shit on by every other person in the story, it's easier for you to pretend that Megatron is a poor uwu boy who just needs friendship and love while Optimus is literally the worst bastard to ever exist. Or maybe it's just that since Optimus' story involves him sometimes fucking up, being criticized, or making things worse, that makes him morally bad. As opposed to Megatron who disrupted a lot of other characters' stories in MTMTE, had to have an entire alternate universe invented so that he could "save lives," and got to sail off on a quantum Lost Light happily ever after, so since he's happy and the story says he saved people that means he's a good hero.

#squiggposting #it started out sort of analytical but ended up bitchy #i also feel like for some reason my understanding of what a redemption arc is is different from others?#when i talk to people about it they keep saying 'well M can't make up for what he did'#and i'm like. no that's not what i mean by redemption arc #to me redemption arc literally just means 'a character goes from bad to good over the course of a story'#whether they're forgiven or if they can 'make up for it' objectively is irrelevant like #redemption arc is literally a common label used for the general trope so idk where this confusion is coming from?#also hot take when i say a character should be redeemed i'm literally not talking about wether they're forgiven or pardoned in universe #i just mean. as a reader. do i read their story arc and see them go from bad to good and progress in meaningful ways #do they do something. anything. to address or apologize or fix what they did #is there some sort of symbolic or literal sacrifice or act of service or any Good Thing even if it's only one single moment #then to me they've been redeemed in a narrative sense. it has nothing to do with whether they can literally compensate for hteir crimes #anyways. the tldr of this is that i don't hate mt/mte at all and i also don't hate idw M. i love them in fact #it's just i feel like i was severely let down by how much this fandom hyped and continues to hype mt/mte meg #(peg/gy the pirate spongebob meme voice) that's it? that's the M redemption arc?#that's just a guy going on a space road trip and being emo #mfs tried to tell me it was one of the best tf stories ever written and i'm like. yeah thanks but no #worse still ppl came out of m/tmte going 'actually M was right about everything'#and i'm like. shit take and you are spreading this nonsense everywhere including shitting on my faves w your bad takes #mfs wanna call M a hero of the ppl who at least cared about the cons when he literally left them for broke on cybertron #i don't think idw M had a good heel-face turn arc bc he didn't really like do anything meaningful in the wider scope of things #what if idw M achieved inner peace by protecting the cons and making sure they had rights post war. how about that #i mean for various reasons the story would've been more complicated than that due to editorial and company mandate bullshit #i just feel as if talking about the story narrative itself IDW M's redemption arc is far from remarkable #except for the fact that JRO dared to do it at all perhaps #(vine voice) that's my OPINION!!!!!

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theoriginalsapphic · 1 year

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Let me steal this moment from you now: Max, Will, Vecna and memories

This is a theory loosely based on BirthdayGate and me rewatching The Hunger Games due to its ongoing reinassance on tiktok and not being able to sleep at three in the morning.

BirthdayGate is the theory that Vecna has been manipulating Will’s memories to basically isolate him from others and making him an easier target (this is an oversimplification of the theory and I may have gotten some things wrong, so keep that in mind).

In the third and final book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, Peeta is held captive by President Snow and used against Katniss. During his captivity, he was tortured, beaten, and hijacked using tracker jacker venom to distort his memories of Katniss until he believed she was a mutt trying to kill him. Essentially, they turned him into a weapon.

Both BirthdayGate and Peeta’s plot in Mockingjay have one thing in common: mind control through brainwashing and psychological torture, which, also happens to be one of the main objectives of MKUltra, a non-fictional illegal human-experimentation program that was developed and overtaken by the CIA between 1953 and 1973, and that in the show is represented through Dr. Brenner and the Hawkins laboratory.

Stay with me; I swear I’m going somewhere.

Vecna messing with someone’s memories wouldn’t be a new thing. In fact, this concept has already been introduced in the fourth season, heavily foreshadowed by this particular song.

Right before the battle against Vecna, Max has the theory that, because she managed to escape through remembering the people that she loves, the best place to hide from Vecna would be to hide in her happiest memory.

Solid theory, all things considered. That is something that the characters got right; Vecna feeds of the darkness inside people (their fears, their traumas, and their guilt), so it would be logical to hide somewhere that represents the complete opposite of his source of power: their light, their strength, etc.

However, the characters underestimated how powerful Vecna truly is, and how capable he is of entering and messing with people’s minds. Max believed that hiding in a happy memory would save her because it did the first time, but he still managed to find her the second time around.

So, how does what happened to Max in season 4 relates to Will and Vecna?

Well, for starters, I just demonstrated why Vecna ruining someone’s happiest memories wouldn’t be a new concept at all.

Something that has been mentioned a couple of times it’s how little Will mentions what happened to him during that week he spent in the Upside Down. As a matter of fact, we know very little of what happened to him during that week, and if anything, what little have we learned about has just provoked more questions (way too many to write them in this post).

However, something that I don’t see mentioned as frequently it’s that we don’t really know much about what Will went through with Lonnie, except through third-party recounts, like Joyce telling Hopper Lonnie used to call Will slurs, or Jonathan remembering the first time he showed him The Clash after Lonnie failed to pick him up for a baseball game.

This is even more peculiar when considering that all the other characters that have experienced abuse in the show have been seen interacting with their abuser and, more or less, react to their actions (Joyce and Lonnie, Jonathan and Lonnie, Billy and Neil, Max and Billy, El and Brenner).

But the point is, we have never seen Will interact with Lonnie or even mention Lonnie. The only time Will mentions his dad is in a flashback that is remembered by Jonathan (who, unlike Will, has named Lonnie several times).

Just like with his trauma with the Upside Down, we don’t know much about his trauma with his dad.

In a regular world, with non-supernatural interference, this could be a completely expected response to trauma:

"Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person blocks out certain events, often associated with stress or trauma, leaving the person unable to remember important personal information." "According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), dissociative amnesia often occurs due to traumatic or stressful events, such as childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect. Dissociative amnesia can also stem from issues relating to personal identity and past experiences." "This forgetting may be limited to certain specific areas (thematic) or may include much of your life history and/or identity (general)."

So, what if Vecna’s intention is to manipulate Will’s happy memories so those memories can’t save them the way they saved him back in season 2? Just like Vecna did the second time he faced Max.

In fact, what happens if these memories have been manipulated so they are no longer happy and instead bring him pain and anguish? What if the only memories that remain untouched inside his mind are the ones he wishes he could forget, the ones that were once repressed, so his own mind can be used against him? Just like Peeta Mellark in Mockingjay.

"Occasionally, a person may be able to suddenly recall these traumatic or abusive events, also known as recovered memories. Alternatively, a person may have false memories of a situation, or inaccurate memories that can be influenced by others or created to fill in gaps. Unfortunately, because a person may genuinely believe that these memories are accurate, it can be challenging to differentiate them from reality."

If what saved Max the first time she faced Vecna were happy memories…

Coincidentally, Will is the only party member that doesn't appear in Max's memories while the lyrics 'Let me steal this moment from you now' are being sung.

...triggered by a song she loves...

…then what happens when that person has no happy memories left to grasp on? What happens when those memories that formed the individual are gone, and the person loses what made their identity? If you lose everything that makes you, you, then who are you anymore? What happens when there is no light to escape to anymore?

This started as a theory about Will but now I’m concerned what will happen with Max when she wakes up.

#will byers #max mayfield #vecna #birthdaygate #byler #lumax #elmax #stranger things #stranger things theory #it's bad enough that he targeted a depressed and suicidal teenagar did he had to ruin her favorite memory?#vecna doesn't like to see gay people thriving 🙄#i'm so concerned with both will and max next season #is it too obvious i came up with this at 3am?#whoever selects the music for this show deserves everything i love them so much #if you think about it will is the only member of the party that doesn't appear in max's memories #tldr; vecna is a bitch and max and will are fucked

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halforcdad · 2 years

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It's interesting how coming from non-supportive/distant families (only inferred for Whistler) and living lonely lives manifested so differently in Whistler's and Lucy's personalities.

Kate is professional and ambitious to the point of coming off standoffish and unpleasant to most people. They mistake her practicality and efficiency in following orders as a lack of caring. Losing her brother had a serious effect on her personality and her family (maybe to the point where they could no longer be there for her after getting lost in their own grief/pushed all that was left of their hopes and dreams onto her). She's uncomfortable at showing emotions (and dealing with/processing them) and with her almost single-minded focus on work, she's isolated herself and doesn't have many friends.

As a result, she's become self-reliant and used to being on her own (not because she wants to be mind you). She likes keeping her life private and separate from her work, wants to hang out with her coworkers, but also wants them to not know too much about her.

So it's very likely that she's not used to receiving affection or support (finding a lot of her value in being good at her job and getting praise and recognition for that) and brushes it off on instinct. Even when she's bruised and hurting, she insists that Lucy go chase after the suspect (even when Lucy's worrying about her and focusing only on her for the first time in forever) and brushes off Lucy's mother-henning. After Lucy and her boss both give her the "you made us worried sick" one-two punch, she looks like she's been sent to the principal's office. When ASAC Curtis tells her to go to the hospital immediately and lectures her about going in alone, she deflates immediately, feeling defeated and taking it as her not being good enough and being the reason the suspect got away rather than Curtis being worried about her wellbeing first and foremost after having just lost an agent.

The first time we really see her drop her guard emotionally is when Lucy takes the initiative and goes out of her way to thank her privately and unexpectedly. In that moment, when Lucy extends the olive branch and admits that her team has been hard on Whistler, acknowledges that she sees the heart behind that mean cop persona and how she did a big thing for them despite their treatment, does Whistler meet her halfway and show a little vulnerability. She admits that she actually envies Lucy and her team and how it sucks being known as nothing more than the chick who ruins the fun. The shots you take as the messenger take their toll eventually no matter how strong your walls are.

She closes herself off and pushes people away when they start to get too close and ask for more because she doesn't know how to navigate that uncharted territory. She's a perfectionist. It scares her because what if she lets someone in and she's not immediately good at handling it on the first try? What if she screws up and they leave? The walls she's spent so long building are so high now, it's hard figuring out how to deconstruct them. She's not good at this and the prospect of failure and disappointment weigh heavy on Kate.

Whereas Lucy is open and wears her heart on her sleeve. Throughout the season, she's been shown to give victims and witnesses the benefit of the doubt, becoming invested in them even when they might not deserve it (Lucy worrying about the armored truck driver (102), wanting to believe the recruiter was a good guy (103), regretting being so nice to clarke lohan because she thought he was the victim (110) etc). She shows her affection easily and often, making her easy to talk to and likeable. Her poking and prodding comes from a place of care rather than for the sake of gossip like when she asks about Kai’s dad or Ernie’s divorce.

We know Lucy has troubles with her family and they don't approve of her decisions. There's likely a history of Lucy having to hide and repress herself to appease them, that still carries on with her to this day. She's become a pariah both of her own choosing and from her parents' rejection. She most likely didn't have a lot of friends who weren't using her for her wealth and power, she "didn't get out much in college," probably went through tough times trying to become something away from them and their money and has her own history of being alone while trying to be self-reliant. Even so, she's unabashedly herself and is understandably tired of hiding it to please people. That earnest integrity and transparency of hers are known charm points.

Now, she's been able to find her people in Hawai'i; the team is her new family and have made it clear they love her for who she is no matter what. She actively seeks out connections and relationships: always asks her coworkers to hang out, tries to get Kai to open up more, goes to a bar occasionally to socialize (and compartmentalize), keeps worrying about Tennant and wanting to check up on her after the Maggie thing and is the one to make the first move with Kate (twice!). Part of it is probably in due part to her wanting to fill the void and not go back to an empty apartment with just her thoughts for company at the end of the day. And she'll put on a brave face to assure her friends she's fine and okay, also in an attempt to convince herself. She has her own history of failure and feeling like she isn’t good enough, and doesn’t like bringing people down when they’re just trying to sympathize and encourage her. That’s likely a big reason why she’s quick to think Kate doesn’t want to be open about her because she’s embarrassed by her.

Still, in the absence of affection from her family, the hardships she went through with them, she's developed a kindness that she shares in abundance with her chosen family always wanting to make sure they're okay (even at her own expense), going into caretaker/protector mode when they're hurt or in danger (crossing the ocean to find Jesse and making sure he had back up (115), fussing over him after the car crash (118), literally everything that happened after the Kate injury (120)). She's worked hard to build this new life and these new bonds and she'll fight like hell if you try to take them away from her.

Literally the definition one of those quotes that's like "they went through so much, but it just made them kind." Her refusal to believe Ernie's cynicism spiral about love being pain even in the face of immense heartbreak is very telling of Lucy's character. She always wants to believe in love, to believe in the good in people and she wants to be a part of that.

Kate "I'm fine, I can take care of myself I'm used to it" Whistler and Lucy "I know what that's like and it sucked so just let me take care of you already" Tara

#ncis hawaii #kacy #and thats on SOULMATES #lucy tara #kate whistler #theres more for lucy bc we know more about her okay i love them both equally #tldr theyre both lonely and kate channels that in its fine dont worry about me and lucys like LET ME WORRY ABOUT U U MORON #i spent so long on this and read it so many times it reads lile gibberish now #i wonder if lucy is also a bad patient or if she likes to be spoiled #s2 show me kacy hurt/comfort PLEASE i would kill for it

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