#arent merely 'parting ways' but a betrayal of treating someone you love as an enemy

[lord-squiggletits]

Like fundamentally my Pharma apologism is basically just flipping the script and making Pharma the protagonist instead so that "crazy mad doctor torturing Ratchet the good Autobot" is instead flipped around to "Heavily traumatized ex(?) Autobot gets revenge on his best friend killing him/leaving him for dead and stealing his body parts."

Honestly I feel like the one misconception that ppl have that makes their interpretations of Pharma or Pharma and Ratchet interactions really bad, is that too many ppl in the fandom treat(ed) Pharma like some random creepy stalker that barely even knew Ratchet, as opposed to Ratchet's literal best friend that only lost contact with him right before Earth events happened (so basically after 4+ million years of friendship they hadn't seen each other for like...2 years tops which is nothing in the average Cybertronian lifespan). Though I can't blame them because sometimes the narrative likes to forget that too in terms of acting like Pharma is solely in the wrong/everything Ratchet did to hurt him was deserved bc Pharma killed people and was stupid/arrogant/shallow.

Like ppl have GOT to understand that Pharma and Ratchet were best friends since before the war started. For reference that would make the length of their friendship comparable to Ratchet and OP's friendship. Which means they would've been REALLY FUCKING CLOSE, not that you really have to read between the lines to see that when Ratchet himself mentions how he and Pharma used to talk late into the night together.

So when Pharma is obsessed with Ratchet, it's not bc he's some delusional stalker who doesn't even know him and is just projecting all of his hates/desires onto Ratchet. It's because they were literally lifelong friends that only broke up/fell out of contact like a year prior. Pharma DOES know Ratchet. He DOES have a meaningful relationship with him. He DOES have the right to be pissed off at Ratchet because a lifelong friendship gives Pharma a claim to Ratchet's regard. Not in a "oh you HAVE to stay friends with me" kind of way, but in a betrayal sense of "oh you did me DIRTY for someone who used to call me his best friend." Imo there's an obligation between lifelong friends where if you hurt them or break up with them, it's a serious deal and you can't treat them like a stranger just bc you hate them

#squiggposting #idk me projecting my philosophy about friendship yet again #pharma apologism #the narrative of m/mtte really wants you to forget that they were best friendols #or at least think that their friendship means nothing for how ratchet should treat pharma #which is fucked up imo bc there are friends that i have/had #where even if we were no longer friends i wouldnt suddenly find it acceptable to like. hurt them #the weight of our former friendship is such that i respect them even if we're no longer friends #so anyways pharma is not 'obsessed' or 'stalking' ratchet #he's a spurned and betrayed best friend seeking revenge on the guy who killed him #(or put him in a situation where he would die) #something about friendship as a sacred bond where some ways of breaking it #arent merely 'parting ways' but a betrayal of treating someone you love as an enemy