I need to express how hilariously horrifying it is living on a ship with Sam/Frostbite as a mechanical being (specifically Cybertronian)
I just got a vivid image of Frostbite creating a little disco party for the boring ship times and *WHEEZE* Whiplash looks over at Frosty's contraption to see where the heck he got all these colored lights and-
IT'S ALL OPTICS
It's just a big ball of salvaged optics on this weird little contraption that swings them around to look like disco lights and Whiplash is just standing there, paused mid-dance, jaw dropped in horror at the creepy little biblically accurate angel ball of optics he knows for a fact were taken from dead mecha
He's aware of mecha who like all this morbid kind of shit, but Sam just has no freaking disregard
If human body parts didn't rot, he would 100% save them for later use like he does with mech parts*
100%
Frostbite would have the exact same habit if they were born cybertronian
As little gremlins made of salvage and repurposed parts, Rita and Carlo do not share Whiplash's horror
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When they finally meet those mecha they welcome aboard on their ship for a short trip (I'm trying to think of why the heck they'd do that and I'm thinking cost. They're getting fare from those mecha bc they didn't have enough on their own for fuel at this stop), Whiplash is struck with how numb he's gotten to just having mech parts lying around his living space bc of their guest's shock/unease
*As of right now, Sam suddenly has a mannequin collection. Only some of them are used for what mannequins are meant to be used for (modeling clothes) and, of course, all of them are stolen (just like everything else Sam freaking collects. Mech parts? Stolen. All the bits and bobs used to create Carlo and Rita? Stolen. Friends? Stolen. Well, stolen as much as you can steal a person who voluntarily interacts with you. Whiplash was technically stolen anyway, lol)
The collection slowly creeps into Whiplash's ship and scares the bajezus out of any humans who sneak on board
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Children make up half of the population of Gaza and nearly a million of them are currently displaced. They are forced to take shelter in unsafe buildings and makeshift camps. It is winter in Gaza, so the temperatures are getting colder and it is harder and harder to find warmth and the resources necessary to keep warm. Not even hospitals and schools are safe from bombing. The chicken are not safe from being taken hostage. They do not get enough food or water on a daily basis. The children of Gaza are by definition starving. Over 80% of Palestinian children are suffering from depression. Over 10,000 children have lost limbs in 3 months. They are going through extreme medical procedures without any painkiller or anesthetic. The watch their parents and family die in front of them and then are forced to continue in alone to try to ensure their own safety. And despite the horror that they have to go through on a daily basis, they still are finding joy and hope. They are stronger than every single one of us and if you are able to look at all the images and videos and stories that come out on an hourly basis of what these children are going through and are still not able to take it seriously you are treating them no better than Israel is.
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i feel like the reason aang isn’t as adored and beloved as he should be is because he’s the protagonist but he’s also not an archetypal western classical hero. i don’t agree with the entirety of that “avatar aang: feminist icon” essay because i think the role of patriarchy and gender in atla is more complex than what that essay posits, but he definitely complicates the masculine ideal of heroism and generally does not conform to patriarchal notions of masculinity. which is very deliberate, especially as contrasted with sokka and zuko’s explicit struggles with the imperialist/colonial standards of an aggressive, militaristic, and chauvinistic masculinity. aang is subversive because he represents an absence of war in a world ravaged by it. through his link to a (somewhat more) peaceful and harmonious past, he represents a better possible future. as katara would say, he brings people hope.
but people don’t like that he’s not visibly edgy or tormented like zuko is (even though he’s a far more tragic character than zuko is, just fyi), that he isn’t “cool” (even though he’s literally the coolest kid ever, just fyi), that he “gets the girl” (even though if anything, she gets him) despite being twelve and bald and nice (the horror!). katara is the more classical hero of the narrative, as its narrator and its catalyst, the adventurous revolutionary who gradually learns to control and use her powers and eventually becoming a force to be reckoned with. zuko is the classical anti-hero of the narrative, his “redemption arc” constantly hailed as one of the greatest character arcs in television. so people expect katara and zuko, as very obvious narrative foils who parallel each other every step of the way, to be the obvious couple, because based on every romance narrative we’ve been inundated with throughout our lives, within our patriarchal society, they “just make sense together.”
but as much as katara is a protagonist in her own right, aang is the show. the title quite literally represents the central thematic tension of the entire narrative, the colon illustrating the implicit divide between his duties to this brave new world in desperate need of justice and balance, or his duties to his extirpated culture as the last true voice among them. aang is the central figure because this tension represents the crucial ideological battle happening across the entire show. aang is the avatar because he is the only person in the entire world whose values have not been shaped by war.
people constantly laud zuko, in particular, for being the most interesting, complex character in avatar. but i personally don’t even think that’s true. which isn’t to say that zuko isn’t fascinating in his own right, of course, but rather that he’s certainly not the only complex character this show has to offer. he just happens to monologue about his anguish constantly. but aang wasn’t raised as an imperial prince, and so he approaches the world, and his own pain, in a very different manner. the reason he immediately goes to ride giant koi on kyoshi island, mailchutes in omashu, and otherwise goofs around after learning of the shocking ramifications of his people’s genocide is because that’s how he copes with his pain. unlike zuko, who never stops talking about his aches and yearnings, aang represses his trauma and hides his tears behind a mask of upbeat cheerful goofy twelve year old antics.
until he can’t anymore. until he snaps. both katara and zuko wear their hearts on their sleeves, and that includes their rage. but aang’s rage is dangerous specifically because it represents that he has been pushed past his limits, that the conditions of this world in which he is a perpetual stranger, temporally displaced and dispossessed, are intolerable. that peaceful reconciliation is impossible. and the fact that he persists beyond that breaking point, over and over again, to firmly and resoundingly establish his ideals even as they conflict with everything he has learned about this world, a world that is not his own even as he can never return to the world he once knew, is what makes him so unique, so powerful, so beautiful.
i know that aang isn’t the typical hero, neither narratively nor aesthetically, but really, that’s the entire point. the world, our world, needs something other than what we have now. we need someone who will not succumb to the ideals of domination and victory through violence to assert themselves. we need someone who stands firm in refusing to kill the firelord, even as everyone he knows tells him otherwise. we need someone who knows that darkness cannot be vanquished through more darkness, but can only truly yield to purifying light.
and sure, aang is a child, and often acts childishly. sure, he’s not conventionally handsome and alluring. but one thing i will never understand is how that somehow negates his appeal to the masses. because even if you don’t appreciate how crucial he is to the themes of this narrative you all seem to love so much, how can you not love his adorable little face? his precious little laugh, his zest for life, the infinite well of love and kindness he holds in his heart? people who hate aang are crazy to me. because you are, quite literally, hating the world’s most precious baby boy.
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