Speaking of Tyrest. A lot of people forget that he treated Pharma with absolute disdain, not only using him as a test subject for a clearly painful mass murder machine, but talking to Pharma like he saw him as nothing but some henchman to order around that was nothing more than a 'diseased cripple' if Tyrest hadn't come to rescue him.
Like it really is an interesting background dynamic with some curious implications, but when you look at fandom posts from around that issue/the years after, for some reason people just saw "Pharma worked with Tyrest" and concluded Pharma is a card carrying bigot ksjfnskxkd. Like yeah Pharma didn't do anything to stop Tyrest but it seems his main beef with the Autobots was with Ratchet in particular and maybe a general disdain for his ex-comrades. As well as continuing to hate Decepticons which like, not even the "good Autobots" are immune to (even in Pharma's introduction, First Aid says in his journal something like "yeah we all hate Decepticons, but Pharma REALLY hates them"). And despite what fandom likes to construe there's really no evidence in IDW1 that Autobots and Decepticons are different "races" or "types" of Cybertronians, so Pharma hating Decepticons really isn't a bigotry/robot racism thing. And instead probably has something to do with, idk, the 4 million year long galaxy-spanning blood feud war, or maybe being blackmailed and tortured into insanity by the Biggest and Most Decepticon-y of Decepticons.
Tyrest treated Pharma like trash, the other Decepticons working for Tyrest (how come no one ever brings that up btw) also hated him, so if anything it seems that Pharma was more of a rogue element only staying with Tyrest bc he was his best option and probably had no way to even escape.
I'm glad that at least in recent years the fandom has acquired a keen reading eye and good taste to finally recognize Pharma as the (accidentally) complex character he is instead of making him some posh, racist Starscream clone SHSJDGSGDH
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I just really hope that the new ATLA movie will be interesting, bright and exciting, that it will pay tribute to all the characters, but especially to Katara. And there will be kataang in it: wonderful, respectful, supportive relationships. And a huge number of pro-Katara, pro-Aang and pro-kataang new fans will come to the fandom. I hope that the time will come when a respectful and competent and deeper gaze of the canon and canonical characters will dominate the fandom, and the toxic z/tara will remain in the minority (I have nothing against zutara as a ship but I am against lying about characters and hatred, and, unfortunately, I saw most of this in the z/tara fandom). Let the era of peace and kindness finally come for the fandom, as Zuko would say.
one can only hope for that, anon! after that leaked image of adult gaang came out, i saw antis do a complete 180 about their perceptions on kataang. so who knows? however, considering that it's been 15 years, i don't think perceptions on here - or in other places - are really going to change much from people who vehemently despise kataang. i think every interaction and scene between katara and aang, no matter how positive it is, will be spun to be made as if it's negative. i mean, we literally saw their reactions to a COOKBOOK that stated that aang liked to cook for katara. "wow, i can't believe you need a cookbook to confirm that aang does the bare minimum," or, my personal favourite, "katara has to literally baby aang by controlling how much sugar he eats!"
that being said, i'm not interested in changing the minds of people who genuinely believe kataang to be an abusive relationship. what i do want instead is for the adult gaang movie to provide a fandom environment in which kataang shippers are not afraid to admit that they ship kataang. for a whole week after the leaked image was released, there was a kataang renaissance that occurred on twitter, with viral kataang tweets and people coming out and admitting that they enjoyed kataang. much like the kataang renaissance that occurred after the legend of korra first aired (with canon confirmation that katara and aang had three children before bryke ripped that perfect family perception to shreds), i want that same thing to happen following the adult gaang movie, except in a much larger scale, with much more fandom content.
at the end of the day, though, what i really want is for katara to be done justice by this movie; for her to receive the recognition that she deserves after 15 long years of absolutely null. i do believe that she will receive justice in the form of good writing and canon recognition - the signs are all there - but at the same time, i am a little cautious just because it is bryke behind the wheels. those two, in their efforts to explore what they believe to be nuance, tend to leave out a whole bunch of details. simply put, they're not the best writers, and even worse, they've been horrible at receiving criticism in the past. so i hope those are attributes of theirs that have changed over the years, as they've matured and gained more industry experience. i think it has, just based on the things that i've heard from the two, and the fact that they're now part of a gigantic hollywood megacorporation and streaming service that is dependent on the success of avatar studios. speaking of which, you have no idea just how much paramount is riding on avatar studios to become a commercial success. the fate and future of avatar studios are absolutely reliant on this adult gaang movie becoming a huge commercial hit.
... which is my other area of concern. just what are bryke willing to do to ensure that the movie will be a huge hit? what plot points will they introduce? what will they do with the characters? i don't think that they're going to pander to fandom demands (have certain ships become romantic) because they said that they're not going to do that. at the same time, however, what exactly are they going to do? katara and aang aren't the most popular characters in the series, their romantic relationship is an area of contention and controversy among the fanbase; from a business standpoint, how exactly will avatar studios handle this? i don't want any cheap, convoluted, soap-opera. i also don't want a marvel movie in the form of avatar. i want fulfilling character arcs and dynamics and plot points that stay true to the themes of avatar the last airbender. as we've seen with the kyoshi novels, we know that the spirit of avatar can be replicated if the right creative voices are in the writing room, holding the pen.
i suppose that's something that bryke will have to deal with and figure out. no use losing sleep over things we know nothing about. just based on the things that i've seen and read, the contextual clues over the years, the new content from avatar studios, i think we can expect the best, especially as kataang shippers. however, i do approach this whole scenario with some (read: a lot of) caution.
but i absolutely agree with you here (and what you said about zutara shippers):
And a huge number of pro-Katara, pro-Aang and pro-kataang new fans will come to the fandom. I hope that the time will come when a respectful and competent and deeper gaze of the canon and canonical characters will dominate the fandom.
i long for a future in which katara fandom analysis isn't essentially, "she's horribly mistreated by the gaang as their resident Mother. that is, until zuko the liberator comes save her. this is why she would be a perfect firelady." if nothing else, please let the outcome of the movie allow for nuanced perspectives of katara's character.
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Also I am VINDICATED that literally all bosses and p.e.s at my new job has said to me "wow you're good at this. This is the fastest anyone has picked this up. You'll advance fast if you actually stay here" Because I can spot design flaws that take like idk engineering sense? I just know what kinds of things are important in design.
So vindicated that I'm a good engineer. Vindicated that I held that company together. They can keep it going (because I set them up to be able to do that) but there is nothing to hold them together. I told the principals that what they'll lose with me is someone to make sure all the parts of the business work together and someone who can make holistic solutions, and that's what they're seeing.
The implication was always that I wasnt a talented engineer. That's what they thought from literally week two (which I know from sources). I wonder what about me made them think in two weeks I was bad at engineering 🤔 I wonder what about me made them think that when I was still learning things like who our customers were and being introduced to people 🤔 literally before I ever took on an engineering project 🤔 not sure! A mystery!
As I was saying in the 'think of things no one has thought of' business class: I have come up with industry standard systems. Is it small? Yes. But it was 100% my design with no co-designers.
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