The thing about the fandom’s interpretation of Data and Pulaski is that it makes both characters extremely flat and boring while also erasing their whole relationship. Data’s made into this flawless, naive baby that can’t defend himself (when he does - when Pulaski mispronounces his name, he tells her exactly why she should pronounce it correctly), while Pulaski is an ugly bitch-hag who is morally reprehensible. Most fanfics portray Data as being uncomfortable or scared of her, while Pulaski’s chomping at the bit to break him into parts. Their whole relationship in season two is based around the fact they both have flaws, and that Data is still learning about what exactly he is capable of as an android.
In “Elementary, My Dear Data”, the big question of the episode is if Data can solve a narrative mystery without it being based on his knowledge of the original stories. Geordi doesn’t know the answer. Pulaski doesn’t. Data doesn’t. From what they know of Data, Pulaski outright dismisses the possibility that Data can, which sparks the episode’s plot.
So when Geordi goes back later and prompts the computer to alter the program to be more challenging, both Data and Pulaski are excited! They want to see where this goes! They are openly having fun with this.
In her first episode, Pulaski dismissed Data when he tried to stay during Troi’s labour, and only relented when Troi said she wanted him there. But by “Penpals”, she assures Sarjenka that Data will be at her side the whole time. When Data expresses doubts, she assures him that this is what’s best for Sarjenka, but that his memories of her will still be important. This is also the same episode where Pulaski defends both her and Data’s personal involvement in the situation to Worf.
In “Measure of A Man”, the game opens with some of the crew playing a poker game. Data and Pulaski are obviously friendly and comfortable enough to socialize together outside of professional circumstances. And again, the scene shows Data calling the game simplistic and assuming he will win, but he turns out to be wrong.
Later in “Peak Performance”, Pulaski sets up Data to compete in Strategema, only for him to end up losing, to everyone’s surprise. The reason why Data’s confidence falls is because he had the exact same assumption about his computational abilities as Pulaski. They were both wrong! When she sees how much losing has affected him, she apologizes:
Data says that he must be malfunctioning. It’s not until Picard tells him that failure can happen even when you do everything right that Data accepts he can make mistakes - and that making mistakes is okay! By the end of the episode, they both know that Data is not infallible, and that he can be affected by failure as much as any human.
Pulaski makes assumptions and mistakes, and so does Data. They learn and grow from them, and their relationship is overall a very positive one despite their very different personalities. It’s an interesting dynamic that gets rewritten by fans entirely, despite the fact that it’s weirdly one of the more developed dynamics in the show.
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I think Branch has abandonment issues because of everything he went through and Poppy knows this.
Yes, both are true and I HAVE to talk about Poppy's behaviour in Trolls Band Together more cuz she doesn't get enough appreciation for her character development and for how much she loves her boyfriend.
At the beginning of the movie she wants him to give his brothers a second chance because she wants him to be with his family. He's not happy about it at first but later he is and she's super happy because she thinks everything is perfect just like he thought.
Until it wasn't. When they both learn at the same time that his brothers don't want to see each other again after rescuing Floyd he leaves and she realizes that this means to him way more than it means to them so she doesn't waste time arguing with them (Branch already did that) and she goes with Branch. She loves him, she doesn't need her favourite boy band to reunite anymore, her priority is making her boyfriend happy again and that can only be accomplished by saving Floyd. But when she finds Branch again he is cold because he's hurt and he doesn't want her help because he thinks that she will abandon him too just like they did. I can only imagine how much it hurt her when he said that, she thought that he believes her that she loves him because she really does. She was already betrayed by a guy she cared about in the past (remember Creek? Ugh I hate him). But instead of focusing on her feelings she's focusing on his because he needs reassurance now more than she does. She trusts Branch, she loves him, she knows he loves her and she tells him that she's with him and reminds him that they've always been there for each other.
She even put his feelings before her sister, when she had to choose. No one's saying that she would never come back to find Viva after the mission is done but she came here to help Branch and that's what she's gonna do above all.
Yes, Branch is an amazing boyfriend, and I'm so thankful that the writers made him this way. I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve the praise he gets, he really does. But I'm saying that Poppy deserves more praise in general. She's so amazing and so underrated.
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I think if I could give the QSMP team one piece of advice, it would be to hire someone who's a really good and experienced TTRPG gamemaster as a consultant
That's a very specific and difficult skill to acquire (I definitely couldn't do it) but it could do so much for the storytelling and the events. Even just small things that an experienced GM could tweak subtly because they know how to direct or redirect players smoothly in the directions they want them to go, without having to force it
And they would probably be able to predict certain player reactions and prepare for them better
I mean obviously it's not all transferable to this format, livestreamed Minecraft roleplay is very different from a tabletop roleplaying game, but I think a lot of it would be, understanding player psychology, etc.
And I get the feeling that the current admin team is maybe more experienced in like video game design? or maybe Minecraft adventure map design? rather than a fully interactive medium (I mean it would make a lot of sense to hire adventure map designers for a project like this, and it definitely seems like they have people who are very talented at those kinds of skills, so I'm assuming that was a priority in their recruitment efforts)
My point is, having a different perspective would help, I think, and good GMs are still such an underrated talent
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additional doodles of The Silly
i love the idea of fakey being solid Most of the time... until its convenient for it. either it gets goopy when its feeling strong emotions or if its just like ‘oh im being pushed away?? you’re pushing me? well thats incorrect. im slime now. hi :)’
also ive been drawing and writing a lot of freaky/antagonistic interactions with these two so peppi deserved a hug
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I have another piece of translation trivia for you pathologic nutsos
In English, on the night of day 3, Artemy can mention to Lara that he "Served as a medic for a while", refering to his brief military service.
*extremely incorrect loud buzzer*
He doesn't say "medic", or even "combat medic" in Russian. He uses the word Фельдшер, or Feldsher, which is a very specific thing.
A Feldsher is (or rather was) a mid-level (that is, without university education) medical practitioner. They don't have the same authority as doctors, but can perform certain operations or diagnostics. Historically, it was a non-combative position in the Russian Army and fleet. They even made a labor union in 1905!
It gives historical context to the entire setting, because Feldshers are mostly assossiated with the late 19th to early 20th century - the term is anachronistic (I guess that's why it was omitted in English) Edit: The term is still generally used in Russia, as pointed out in the comments, though the current and historical meaning are slightly different. We still have some Feldshers in Poland, as the only country in the EU where that position is legally recognized.
It also makes so much sense, given Artemy's situation - he never finished university but did have some prior knowlegde, so it would be reasonable for him to serve, as it was a common practice back then.
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