#weapons manufacturing
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Australia challenged on ‘moral failure’ of weapons trade with Israel
Regular protests have been taking place outside Australian firms making crucial components for the F-35 fighter jet.
Melbourne, Australia – Israel’s continued assault on Gaza has highlighted a hidden yet crucial component of the world’s weapons manufacturing industry – suburban Australia.
Tucked away in Melbourne’s industrial north, Heat Treatment Australia (HTA) is an Australian company that plays a vital role in the production of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters; the same model that Israel is using to bomb Gaza.
Weekly protests of about 200 people have been taking place for months outside the nondescript factory, where heat treatment is applied to strengthen components for the fighter jet a product of US military giant Lockheed Martin.
While protesters have sometimes brought production to a halt with their pickets, they remain concerned about what’s going on inside factories like HTA.
“We decided to hold the community picket to disrupt workers, and we were successful in stopping work for the day,” Nathalie Farah, protest organiser with local group Hume for Palestine, told Al Jazeera. “We consider this to be a win.”
“Australia is absolutely complicit in the genocide that is happening,” said 26-year-old Farah, who is of Syrian and Palestinian origin. “Which is contrary to what the government might have us believe.”
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war in Gaza six months ago after Hamas killed more than 1,000 people in a surprise attack on Israel. The war, being investigated as a genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has left hundreds of thousands on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.
Nathalie Farah has been organising regular protests outside HTA’s factory [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]
According to Lockheed Martin, “Every F-35 built contains some Australian parts and components,” with more than 70 Australian companies having export contracts valued at a total 4.13 billion Australian dollars ($2.69bn).
Protesters have also picketed Rosebank Engineering, in Melbourne’s southeast, the world’s only producer of the F-35’s “uplock actuator system”, a crucial component of the aircraft’s bomb bay doors.
Defence industry push
In recent years, the Australian government has sought to increase defence exports to boost the country’s flagging manufacturing industry.
In 2018, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Australia aimed to become one of the world’s top 10 defence exporters within a decade. It is currently 30th in global arms production, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute.
It is an aspiration that appears set to continue under the government of Anthony Albanese after it concluded a more than one-billion-Australian-dollar deal with Germany to supply more than 100 Boxer Heavy Weapon Carrier vehicles in 2023 – Australia’s single biggest defence industry deal.
Since the Gaza war began, the industry and its business relationship with Israel have come increasingly under the spotlight.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles insisted that there were “no exports of weapons from Australia to Israel and there haven’t been for many, many years”.
However, between 2016 and 2023 the Australian government approved some 322 export permits for military and dual-use equipment to Israel.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s own data – available to the public online – shows that Australian exports of “arms and ammunition” to Israel totalled $15.5 million Australian dollars ($10.1m) over the same period of time.
Officials now appear to be slowing the export of military equipment to Israel.
In a recent interview with Australia’s national broadcaster ABC, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy insisted the country was “not exporting military equipment to Israel” and clarified this meant “military weapons, things like bombs”.
However, defence exports from Australia fall into two categories, items specifically for military use – such as Boxer Heavy Weapons vehicles for Germany – and so-called ‘dual use’ products, such as radar or communications systems, that can have both civilian and military uses.
[See the video embedded in the article]
Australia’s Department of Defence did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests about whether the halt to defence exports to Israel also included dual-use items.
What is certain is that companies such as HTA and Rosebank Engineering are continuing to manufacture components for the F-35, despite the risk of deployment in what South Africa told the International Court of Justice in December amounted to “genocidal acts“.
In the Netherlands – where parts for the jet are also manufactured – an appeal court last month ordered the Dutch government to block such exports to Israel citing the risk of breaching international law.
The Australian government has also come under scrutiny for its lax “end-use controls” on the weapons and components it exports.
As such, while the F-35 components are exported to US parent company Lockheed Martin, their ultimate use is largely outside Australia’s legal purview.
Lauren Sanders, senior research fellow on law and the future of war at the University of Queensland, told Al Jazeera that the “on-selling of components and military equipment through third party states is a challenge to global export controls.
“Once something is out of a state’s control, it becomes more difficult to trace, and to prevent it being passed on to another country,” she said.
Sanders said Australia’s “end use controls” were deficient in comparison with other exporters such as the United States.
“The US has hundreds of dedicated staff – with appropriate legal authority to investigate – to chase down potential end-use breaches,” she said.
“Australia does not have the same kind of end-use controls in place in its legislation, nor does it have the same enforcement resources that the US does.”
The protesters say they will continue their action until manufacturing of F-35 components is stopped [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]
In fact, under legislation passed in November 2023, permits for defence goods are no longer required for exports to the United Kingdom and the US under the AUKUS security agreement.
In a statement, the government argued the exemption would “deliver 614 million [Australian dollars; $401m] in value to the Australian economy over 10 years, by reducing costs to local businesses and unlocking investment opportunities with our AUKUS partners”.
International law
This new legislation may provide more opportunities for Australian weapons manufacturers, such as NIOA, a privately owned munitions company that makes bullets at a factory in Benalla, a small rural town in Australia’s southeast.
The largest supplier of munitions to the Australian Defence Force, NIOA – which did not respond to Al Jazeera for comment – also has aspirations to break into the US weapons market.
At a recent business conference, CEO Robert Nioa said that “the goal is to establish greater production capabilities in both countries so that Australia can be an alternative source of supply of weapons in times of conflict for the Australian and US militaries”.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge told Al Jazeera that the government needed to “publicly and immediately refute the plan to become a top 10 global arms dealer and then to provide full transparency on all Australian arms exports including end users.
“While governments in the Netherlands and the UK are facing legal challenges because of their role in the global supply chain, the Australian Labor government just keeps handing over weapons parts as though no genocide was happening,” he said. “It’s an appalling moral failure, and it is almost certainly a gross breach of international law.”
The Dutch government has faced legal action over the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel [File: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters]
Elbit has come under fire for its sale of defence equipment to the Myanmar military regime, continuing sales even after the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, was accused of gross human rights violations – including attacks on civilians – by the United Nations and others.
Despite a recent joint announcement between the Australian and UK governments for an “immediate cessation of fighting” in Gaza, some say Australia needs to go further and cut defence ties with Israel altogether.
“The Australian government must listen to the growing public calls for peace and end Australia’s two-way arms trade with Israel,” Shoebridge said. “The Albanese government is rewarding and financing the Israeli arms industry just at the moment they are arming a genocide.”
Protests have continued both at the HTA factory in Melbourne and their premises in Brisbane, with organisers pledging to continue until the company stops manufacturing components for the F-35.
#palestine#free palestine#save palestine#gaza#free gaza#save gaza#world news#current events#war on gaza#gaza genocide#gaza strip#israel#gazaunderattack#israeli apartheid#israel palestine conflict#boycott israel#palestinian genocide#palestine genocide#stop the genocide#genocide#human rights#arms trade#weapons manufacturing#weapons technology
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😂😂😂 · Triangle of Sadness (2022 𝖿іᥣm)
ძіr. rᥙᑲᥱᥒ ös𝗍ᥣᥙᥒძ · ძᥲrk ᥴ᥆mᥱძᥡ · ᥴᥲ⍴і𝗍ᥲᥣіsm · s᥆ᥴіᥲᥣ ȷᥙs𝗍іᥴᥱ
#filmedit#triangle of sadness#social satire#merchants of death#anti capitalism#filmgifs#film#ruben östlund#triangle of sadness 2022#oliver ford davies#amanda walker#arms dealers#weapons manufacturing#defense industry#anti capitalism explained#military industrial complex#moviegifs#movie
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Weapons manufacturers should make weapons like TF2, with a really cool concept and hilarious downside, and making weapons without obvious downsides should be made illegal. This applies to artillery too! Like a nuke that’s super fucking slow, or an artillery battery that can only fire in bursts and is wildly inaccurate.
“Yeah this pistol allows you to fly somewhat and fires like a machine gun, but it can only shoot rubber bullets.” “Can’t you just, make it shoot normal bullets?” “Lol no, it’d break the meta!”
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the Planters Peanut is now nonbinary. Mx. Peanut has announced that they are investing their considerable fortune in cryptocurrency and publicly traded military weapons manufacturers.
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In 2022, America’s top five weapons contractors made $196 billion in military-related revenue, according to Defense News. Lockheed Martin dominated all other defense-focused companies, with total military revenue of roughly $63 billion last year. RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, was a distant second, earning roughly $40 billion in revenue in 2022.
The same five American “prime” contractors have long dominated lists of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Boeing and General Dynamics have remained in the top seven of the Defense News ranking since it began in 2000.
x
Some other fun facts:
Did you know Amy's dad was Shell the Oil Company's lawyer? They were actively lying about climate facts and denying climate change.
Kavanaugh, Alito, & Barret live within 10 minutes of these
None of them live further than 30 minutes from a weapons HQ. I checked.
So if you're ALREADY protesting in the are then consider paying them a visit so they don't feel left out ❤️
PS:
"A spokesperson for the Pine Bluff Arsenal did not respond to questions about whether the Israeli military is using white phosphorus munitions manufactured at the facility.
[...]The Pine Bluff Arsenal is not the only weapons manufacturer in Arkansas. In October, the defense contractor RTX Corporation announced it was building a new facility in East Camden in partnership with an Israeli defense contractor that will manufacture missiles to be used for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system and its U.S. counterpart, SkyHunter. This facility will be the latest addition to a sprawling industrial complex that includes other defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin."
....the open secrets and donors for these guys is weird as hell for somewhere that should be boring af. It's def because of it's MD's military arsenal and it's definitely because these guys take money for it's use. They gotta go ASAP.
#idk what to tag this#things you should know#Palestine#USA#Israel#us politics#weapons manufacturers#NRA#Arkansas#Virginia#Maryland#boeing#lockheed martin#supreme court#follow the money
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Kamala Harris: "there must be an immediate ceasefire"
Me: good. Stop. Stop there. Not another word. Leave it there.
Harris: "for the next 6 weeks..."
Me: "I'll take your 6 weeks and raise you PERMANENT"
You will stop this killing. Permanently. NOW.
Keep protesting. Talk louder! Talk MORE! Biden and bitch ass netanyahu DO NOT start this shit up again. Not in 6 weeks. Not EVER.
And
I'll believe it when I fucking see it.
#you don't get to just pretend 6 weeks is enough for families to heal before you break them again#you want to get rid of Hamas?#then STOP GIVING THEM MORE REASONS TO WANT REVENGE#stop the killing FOREVER#give people their houses back#let the WEAPONS MANUFACTURERS pay these families to rebuild#they don't get to weasel out of this scot-free#HELP Palestine rebuild.#send Palestinian history experts and artists out there to rebuild everything that was lost#and DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER SQUARE CENTIMETER OF PALESTINIAN LAND.#PERIOD#EVER.
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I'd screenshot every profile on here individually tbh but the new IW character lore is soooo juicy
i'll screenshot em for the team on tumblr cause i woke up sick today
renders under the cut. if anyone wanna look at em 👁️👁️
#snap chats#pissed forever because there's an uneven number but this is fine this is fine this is fine this is f#idk why it makes me happy that nanba's working at a medical equipment manufacturer but it do :]]#JOON-GI BEING UNABLE TO STAY AWAY FROM THE GANG THO 😭 THE ICHIGANG NOT THE YOKOHAMA ONE#i mean he still there but.. it cute how he doesnt wanna leave ichi and the team alone </3 they're fam.....#love how ichi is referred to as jo's 'fated rival' my brother in christ it's the equivalent of having beef with your step son#'fated rival' THE DRAMA. enough.#at the family bbq and yall bein DISORDERLY anyway.#idk 'brawler' is such a funny description for him like. TECHNICALLY sure yeah that works. Technically#seemed to be more of a weapons guy but semantics#ANYWY THESE ARE SO FUN epic.... can january get here already...#and then after january can it be february so i can have my aoki plushie..
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Indentured for Life au
What has natsuo been up to since he was freed ? What have the other quirkless people done after realease ?Also how have some heroes(Like hawks) and hero students reacted to finding out that the organizatorom they served was using slave labor
Natsuo is catching up on his schooling! He's in an accelerated program and, thanks to an embarrassingly small amount of settlement money from the government, he has his own shitty little apartment in a barely tolerable area. He loves it to pieces. He isn't used to living alone, so it gets pretty lonely, but some of the other workers live close by and they come hang out pretty often. Izuku visits a lot too! He's aiming to be a nurse. Some of the others have gotten work in hero agencies for costume repair (its. ethically strained, but its the only work they know and they are happy to do it, as long as they are getting paid a fair wage.) and some others are working in activism and quirk discrimination charities.
As for reactions?
Hawks
His hands were still shaking. He'd been retching uncontrollably for what felt like hours, his hands shaking as he torn himself out of his costume. How many times had he been grateful for the hand stitched seams on his costume being gentler on his wings? For the warm leather on his googles that had already been shaped for his head, with hand written instructions for leather care tucked into the box. Fuck - he'd thought they were old fashioned for the note, not locked in a factory without so much as a fucking printer.
He needed to make a public statement, the faster the better. He had to say something loudly because the HPSC had time to write his statement for him. Just. Just when his hands stopped shaking.
Endeavor
His PR team must be having a field day. Endeavor's own son, recovered from one of the factories? The man himself with nothing to say? What could he say? That he'd kept his mouth shut so his youngest son had a chance at overtaking All Might, that his youngest son could help where he failed? Ha - that'd go over well.
He hoped Natsuo knew he still had a college fund. Still had a credit card in his name, a bank account his father put money in once a month, for when he was finally free. Maybe he'd take it, if it was from Fuyumi.
Iida Tenya
His brother had been upset that week. He'd come home early, corralling his parents into a meeting room and not leaving until they'd found a new costume supplier and a public statement beyond repute. He hadn't known why, not until the news story had broken that morning. Tenya had been lost, staring at the television until he was late for his train, only arriving to class minutes before the bell.
He'd always wanted to be a hero. But - could he? Knowing what he knew now, about the organization he'd have to answer to?
Bakugo
His mother had screamed when she'd seen that footage of Deku, All Might carefully breaking the metal cuff around his throat. The nerd had only smiled weakly, like seeing All Might wasn't everything he'd ever wanted. He was so thin, his hands covered in small cuts, burns and blisters.
He wanted to feel upset, that Deku had ruined his hero costume too - but. It was his fault. He was the one who told those fuckers Deku was quirkless, after auntie had so carefully not commited to putting anything down on paper. He and the idiots had trailed All Might once, before they knew that's who Yagi was. They'd seen the buildings, the lady with the collar. They'd put it out of their minds because they hadn't had a choice. No closure, just a creeping unease that would sneak up on them at night.
Deku had been in one of those factories. Deku had been making the blast proof mesh on the palms of his gloves, the sweat wicking fabric of his winter costume, the thick tread of his combat boots.
Katsuki stared up at the blank ceiling and tried not to think any more.
#among others - aizawa is incandescently furious#his capture weapon is all UA at least#so he patrols in plain clothes for weeks until UA can manufacture its own textiles and costume parts#same with a lot of the staff#it starts a bit of a silent protest within the hero ranks#countless heroes patrolling in street clothes because they cant stand the idea that costumes ment to make people feel safe had been#produced at the cost of so much human misery#asks#my fic#bnha au#indentured for life au
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Pro tip: okay so idk if I've mentioned this but first of all please join a more proffesional club, something related to your major whether it's just for community building or actual work. They tend to bring in companies periodically to tall about their work and available positions. Thats not the tip, the tip is to ask questions when they get to them.
This has two benefits, 1) they give out swag typically to the people who ask questions, I've gotten multiple insulated water bottles, pens, cups, notebooks, chapstick, and post it notes this way. The good shit (waterbottles and notebooks) go first so ask that question early and save money. Added bonus of getting to go undercover as someone associated with [company name]
2) great practice in asking questions in a perspective job setting. At some point you'll likely be going to career fairs and talking to people, and getting some low key practice asking questions about a company before hand will make it easier later in an already overwhelming environment.
Good questions can include things about the function of the company, how internships work, ect.
Today I simply asked if they looked for computer science majors because they were focusing on engineer majors, I didn't actually care about the answer, but with how many companies use computer science and computer/software engineering semi interchangeably it's a good question to feel comfy asking.
#gay thoughts#couldnt care less about a company#they dealt with nuclear weapon manufacturing#:/#like as a hard rule anyways i domt think i want tl work somewhere thay doesnt allow cell phones or bluetooth in the building#too high stakes for me#i want somewhere a little cjiller#just remembered i need to update my resume and start planning for the career fairs#:/ dont wanna adult
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"I think Breakdown was a construction worker before the war" I think he'd use a jackhammer to try and kill someone and not be allowed within a 4 mile radius of any construction site
#i dont even have any idea of what he'd have as a job#maybe something to do with weapon designing or manufacturing#i love seeing HCs of his jobs tho#ive seen so many different ones#breakdown#transformers#tfp breakdown#maccadams
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I've mentioned before about a borderlands modern au idea and I want to show what I have.
Lilith Cashlin
Leader of The Firehawks (a biker gang in the city of Sanctuary which mostly consists of her friends)
Still trying to move on after her boyfriend was murdered by the Hyperion president.
Works at the city museum along with her socially reclusive friend Tannis.
In place of Lilith's siren tattoos, she has a full arm and leg sleeve tattoo which consists of dragons, phoenix's, unicorns and other fantasy elements.
Took in Angel after her father was arrested.
Is pretty close with the city's local con artist.
Angel Coldwell
Daughter of Jack Coldwell, President of the Hyperion corporation.
Was homeschooled most of her life and because of that, she's a bit naive, socially awkward and has developed social anxiety.
Would have recurring nightmares about Jack coming back to get her.
It was revealed that not only was Jack connected to a series of murders (one of the victims being his own wife), but he was also conducting inhumane experiments on people who he'd bribe/threat/kidnapped.
While incarcerated, Jack pleaded to anyone that would listen that he would never hurt his daughter and was very protective of her, the bruises and bone fractures said otherwise.
Along with that, it was also revealed during the trial that Jack was about to do said experiments on Angel shortly before he was incarcerated.
Jack has since been sentenced to death row.
Harley and Tiffany Williams
Parents of child prodigy, Gaige Williams.
Harley is a retired engineer and part-time boxer who owns his own gym in Sanctuary.
Tiffany is the owner of the Sanctuary Science and History Museum and is an elementary teacher at the local school.
Gaige Williams
Child prodigy and honor student.
Doesn't have many friends due to them sending her as weird and nerdy.
Was the only one that offered friendship Angel since she's an outcast as well.
Lost her arm at a young age, but she now has this really cool robotic arm (with help from her dad) that can crush concrete so that fine.
#borderlands#alternative universe#lilith the siren#angel the siren#gaige the mechromancer#my ocs#my art#for angels last name I remember seeing one headcanon that jack mother was susan coldwell (the tediore ceo from ntftbl)#and I thought that idea was funny since people called tediore the wallmart of gun manufacturers#and jack loves to bost how superior hyperion weapons are.
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palisade 02 spoilers below
brnine is already absolutely knocking me out this season. the fact that they've become the captain of a ship and genuinely want to take care of their crew and show that millennium break is a force for good contrasts so deeply with their still-existing horrible ability to connect with people and their deep, deep desire to have that connection.
in a lot of ways their position is them trying to keep valence's memory alive, right? brnine is doing things they think valence would be proud of, because brnine is still a very transactional person. "i come with you to fort icebreaker so you get me a spaceship" has turned into "i spend my life trying to do what i think you would do and prove i was worthy of your affection because that's a fair exchange for what you did for me." and they are so, so desperate to prove this to...anyone?? we find out in this episode that they're even trying to prove themself to thisbe even though thisbe literally does not function that way- brnine is never going to need prove anything to her, thisbe does not care, but brnine just wants to show to someone they are living up to their new ideals, that they are Good Now.
and what really kills me is asepsis seems to have basically figured this out. it stopped working when there was a spy on the ship, and when brnine caught the spy, brnine presumably thought "yes, i have figured out how to read asepsis' actions and caught the spy! i am a good captain with a good grasp on my divine." but asepsis is the one running the situation there. it's training brnine to do things for it (ie. remove enemies from the ship) and making them think they're doing a good job by doing so. it's fulfilling brnine's need to get a little pat on the head!!
there's a scene early in partizan, when sbbr is on the isles of logos, where brnine sees avar and ryrira and their kid and gets all upset about the fact that they don't get a house and a family and a Normal Life. brnine has always been obsessed with whatever they think is being a "good person" who "lives well" and they are so eager to believe that what they are doing now is just that and so eager for other people to see it. and im excited for when asepsis or some other person/force/etc takes advantage of that and walks brnine right off a cliff
#fatt personal tag#palisade spoilers#palisade#crop textpost tag#adding to these tags that obviously brnine's previous profession and literal Weapons Manufacturing were not Being A Good Person obviously#but brnine was like. super military industrial complex pilled in the way they thought that was 'normal' or 'not that bad'#you know what i mean.
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Fires of Raven ending discussion
....wait a minute...
why is the Fires of Raven considered 100% my fault?
Did the PCA satellite's eye of sauron snitch on me?
IS THIS AN ARQUEBUS SMEAR CAMPAIGN? FUCK YOU, ARQUEBUS.
Like Carla helped a not-insignificant amount.
And nobody but me knows Ayre is even like... an entity... so beating her up is like "who the fuck is that????" to everyone else.
Justice(?) for Carla!
#armored core 6#armored core vi#fires of raven ending spoilers#c4 621#cinder carla#I LOVE CARLA SHE'S SO FUN OKAY#who doesn't want to be a funny little ageless weapons manufacturer
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thoughts on sound design and Divinity in ultrakill
#listening to things like#the sounds the virtues and their heavenly beam attacks make#or the hum of gabriel's light weapons#it's not the sound of an angelic choir. it's warbly and distorted and inorganic#almost like a synthesized imitation of more traditionally heavenly sound#and i don't remember if i've talked about it here. but that ties into the mechanical nature of heaven and its heirarchy#reading what the game has to say about gabriel. the wording very Very badly wants you to think of gabriel as a machine#as a weapon#the way the terminal talks about him and the way the council does#it's dehumanizing commodification#and that brings to mind the contrast the game sets up between angels and machines#because angels are counterpart to Robots in ultrakill's story. not demons#the game sets up conflict between Heaven and Earth. with hell just serving as a backdrop#and that shows in the way the game handles angels and machines#where the structure of heaven's forces is rigid and the sound of divinity is a synthetic growl#looking at ultrakill's scripture on machines on the other hand. you'll find that every robot described in the terminal has a story involving#some kind of deviation from originally manufactured purpose. form. design. aesthetic#they're really Wild Animals#they fight. they Live#they evolve and they mutate#they do whatever the hell they need to#and i find that fascinating. perfect contrast#again my fingers are crossed tighter than hell that the Violence layer plays with that animalism#or that machinekind is at least explored further somewhere else in the story#either way. can't wait#no one does hell like hakita#make it this far down i'd love to hear what you think
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hey I heard we're drawing our faves with the Palestine flag-- I'm not super confident in my art/might come back to it later, so I'm hopping on here to say:
*ahem*
SETO KAIBA STANDS WITH PALESTINE ARGUE WITH THE WALL
Thank you.
#yugioh#seto kaiba#kaiba#kaiba seto#free palestine#from the river to the sea palestine will be free#kaiba is an orphan if you think he wouldn't support palestine you are wrong and also#a third rate duelist with a fourth rate deck#he canonically changed kaibacorp from a weapons manufacturer to a gaming company#seto kaiba stands with palestine
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Gambling Apocalypse Tenma AU
As I rewatch Kaiji I inevitably end up wanting to combine show I like with other show I like and stuffing fav characters into show. So here we are.
This was uh going to be a short summary type thing but I accidentally wrote a novella about it sorry
This AU starts off with a much more depressive Tenma. After Tobio's death, rather than immediately pour his grief into developing a robot version of his son, he recedes into himself, psychologically paralyzed, likely turning to alcohol to drown out his anguish.
His mental state is taken as an opportunity within the Ministry of Science to have him ejected from his position; Tenma was never the most well-liked director, and there were those with ambition to usurp him that would jump at the chance. Not that he especially cares in his state.
He's eventually dragged out of his stagnation by Ochanomizu - who, inadvertently, becomes the very catalyst pushing Tenma to develop a robot replacement to his child. This was not what he meant by encouraging Tenma to fill the void left by his son.
...But, well, he is no longer the director of the Ministry of Science. His access to limitless government funds and resources for "scientific research" has been cut off, and this is a project he cannot finance on his own. He can't ask Ochanomizu for help, but...interestingly...a representative of a certain shady organization known as the Teiai Corporation reaches out to him, offering to finance and support his project. A sane and well-minded Tenma might think better of it, but grieving and desperate, Tenma accepts their offer and is able to create a robot in the image of his beloved Tobio. For a while, there's joy in his life.
But the bill, as ever, comes due: Tenma must pay up, and the very resources that had been at his disposal will certainly ensure that he will, or else. Of course, he doesn't have the money; instead, he is given a choice. He can relinquish the robot Tobio in order to wipe out his debt - the child is a sophisticated and powerful robot, after all - or he can participate in a certain illicit event hosted by the Teiai Corporation.
It's nothing major...just a four-hour gambling cruise with a collection of desperate, damned souls that were also swept into debt with Teiai. The conditions are simple: Those who choose to participate are given a chance to clear their debts wholesale should they win. And should they lose...?
Well...no one really knows what happens to the losers seized by Teiai. It's said that they labour away their debts under Teiai's watchful eye and are freed once their work has covered their debts, though it's rumoured that most perish before they reclaim freedom.
There's only one answer Tenma can give, of course; he's not willing to lose Tobio again.
Thus is Tenma's debut into the Gambling Apocalypse, where he must become cutthroat in order to survive; if he wants to see his son again, he must make choices that will doom the hapless to miserable servitude, with a nonzero chance it ends in their death.
He survives the cruise, but of course, it was hardly enough to clear his debt; the cruise was never going to be the end of it. Teiai doesn't let go of its victims that easily. He will be called on again: this is a weight that hangs over him, all while he returns to his son Tobio. The same hands that have pushed innocents into hell must now be the hands that can embrace his child.
He wants to protect Tobio from the truth and enjoy what peaceful moments he's allowed with his son, but it's difficult. It's difficult to be the parent of a child who cannot understand the danger that looms ahead; this "happy" home is not to last. Tenma angers quickly and easily. He turns that anger onto Tobio.
As Teiai's games become more and more vicious and unrelenting, as his conscience holds onto the last vestiges of thread that remain, Tenma even threatens, once, to give the boy in: it would all end, then; the debt would be clear and no longer would he have to endure Tobio's childish annoyances, his ungratefulness.
The next time that Tenma is beckoned, Tobio takes matters into his own hands. He does understand, now; and he would have, if only Tenma had bothered to explain sooner. If it's a debt that needs clearing, he will work. He will help his father clear his debts however he can. Of course, it's difficult to find work as a child; but a circus troupe finds amusement in the idea of a child robot, and takes him in. He is whisked into a certainly unpleasant working situation, but he remembers his father, and what he must be enduring. Tobio, also, will endure.
When Tenma returns, Tobio is gone.
All that held Tenma back from becoming something monstrous has disappeared. All that kept him going has disappeared. When he is called upon by Teiai, there is no knowing what sort of person might come out the other end; whether a monster clawing his way to freedom regardless of what actions he must take, or a desolate husk surrendering defeat.
There is still a light, however dim: Found by Professor Ochanomizu and rescued from the circus, Tobio - now Atom - is able to shed light on the situation which Tenma took great pains to keep hidden from his old friend. With time running out, Ochanomizu and Atom must do what they can to save Tenma - from Teiai, and from himself.
-----
UHHH and that's a wrap!!!! I couldn't quite decide which way Tenma would go after hitting Rock Bottom in this AU, and tbh it would really depend on the kind of mental state he's in at the time. On the one hand I like the narrative of Ochanomizu and Tobio racing to prevent Tenma from crossing a line (actual outright murder probably) - or having to pull him back into humanity (and yknow, his ensuing penance)
But on the other hand having him get sent to Teiai Evil Hell Prison would be interesting because a) there's a lot of narrative potential having Tenma faced with what Teiai is doing with the people that lose the games and b) need him to decimate the foreman at chinchirorin Kaiji style
Tenma's whole character is definitely a much different guy in this AU, he starts off pretty sympathetic, the guy you wanna root for, he just ends up having an inverse character arc where he gets worse instead of better. His conflict with "Tobio" is also kind of reversed, less about being unsatisfied with Tobio as a son and more not being able to handle the fact that he probably has intense PTSD now and isnt capable of coping with it in a way conducive to being a parent (or like, coping at all)
Anyway that's gambling apocalypse tenma!!!
#umataro tenma#long post#well that became a novel. sorry lmao#in my mind teiai's evil hell prison in astro boy verse would probably be quite a bit different than regular kaiji#like. fuckin. weapons manufacturing for teiai or something like that. or scary bad danger robots. horrifying concept#Tenma would be a valuable asset to them whether by giving up Atom or by losing in death game hell and being forced to work for em#and if he dies? they can just take atom#get him out of there.#I'm also thinkin of who Teiai would be represented by.....the snakey loan sharks u could easily put skunk in there.#but who is an evil fucked up sadist billionaire. theres probably someone who could be fucked up enough I just dont know offhand#and im allergic to mischaracterizing in AUs lol im not gonna make a slightly bad guy into an evil freakguy. so. Hyoudou is just himself.#if you squint this could be considered an 80s astro boy AU..has a cruise arc & not actually giving atom away#but man. that tenma LEAST of all deserves this fate lmao#do I want to write fic of this? yes. will I? not likely!#I can just smell it dude this would be some crazy fuckoff 100k shit I am not ready brother#also it would just be soooooo so so so so so edgy. I dont really enjoy writing intensely grim stuff w/ little to no respite#also tbh. I am too stupid. LOL. I cannot write clever gambles alas
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