Uh.  To be fair.  The world could also be dying because of the HOLY BLATANT DOMESTIC ABUSE that underscores this ship through most continuities…and it’s disturbing how okay people are with that.  Is it weird that I’m bothered by how okay people are with that?  Maybe it’s just me.  ._.

I finally got to ride my bike again! I hadn't been able to much at all because I still need a spotter and my spotter wasn't very available. But the camp coordinator knew a local bike rider who wanted to help me, so we met yesterday. It was a lot of fun! I still haven't completely figured everything out, mostly because I haven't gotten to ride in forever, but it was a lot of fun and it seems to be getting easier.

TFP yesterday was amazing. They seem to have finally remembered how to write! I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see Dreadwing drag Starscream back home for his punishment (yes, when he said he was going to do that, it gave me great glee), but what we did see was awesome. Neutral!Starscream was really kind of pathetic and silly up until the clone episode, and he really got his groove back here. And not only that, in a way that made his neutrality make sense and not just be "Oh, yeah, well, we don't know what else to do because Megatron's too pissed off to keep him around." This really showed you just how much of a bald-faced opportunist the guy is, and I always liked that as a personality type for evil-leaning Neutrals. I mean, I badly want him to go home, but this was pretty awesome. I'm not sure what I want to happen when he gets home. I'd love to see him reunited with Megatron, but I don't see how it can happen now. Especially not when...

...DREADWING IS FUCKING AWESOME, PEOPLE. MY GLEEFACES, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM. I liked this guy somewhat already, because I'm a sucker for honorably evil characters. It fascinates me, because it's complex. We're used to associating honor, loyalty, nobility with the good guys, so seeing it in the bad guys is really cool to me. And while I know some people found him dull, because he doesn't have the sassitude of Starscream or Knock Out or the cold badassery of Soundwave, I already liked him.

But THIS. THIS. jkashjksdf. Every time Starscream tried to pull something, Dreadsy just stone cold ignored him. (Which is exactly how you win against someone like Starscream -- yawning boredly at the bullshit and moving right along.) He takes absolutely no crap. Which is exactly what Megatron needs in a new second in command, as much as it makes me pout and snarl that I'm even typing that in the first place.

I also really liked that he (mild spoiler, I suppose) didn't change allegiance at the end. There's been a lot of speculation in the fandom of late that he's going to turn Autobot at some point, and I was really glad he didn't. Number one, I do like the Decepticons having someone who doesn't play the usual backstabbing games. When everyone's pretty much the same, it gets boring and annoying. But number two...

...the Autobots killed his twin brother! He felt the guy die at their hands! I cannot imagine a situation in which it is easy and quick for Dreadwing, noble and intelligent as he is, to just turn around and go "Y'know what, Optimus Prime? You've got a point there. I believe you when you tell me you didn't want to kill my brother. Put 'er there, pal." This is a guy whose personal mission is vengeance against those who killed his twin. He's not just going to drop it.

And he and Skyquake both had that deep loyalty thing going. I don't know why they were both so loyal, and I don't know if the Megatron that Dreadwing serves under now is less sane than the one they pledged fealty to forever ago. But it's a part of their character, and I don't see it going poof quickly either. Yeah, Dreadwing has already disagreed with Megatron and I could see the well being poisoned there. But... not quickly.

I do think it's possible that he switches sides at some point. (I fervently hope he doesn't.) But if he does, I think it's going to take a long time and some pretty major events. Otherwise I personally won't find it believable, and will feel pretty cheated, like I felt cheated by how quickly the Orion plot resolved in the beginning of Season 2. I love this guy... and I love him right where he is, thanks. At least for now.

There's all kinds of negative or cynical things I could say, from asking why this didn't happen sooner, to wondering if this began with a gaffe or a strategic move designed to look like one, to wondering why if it was a gaffe it took a fuckup to get you to say it, to wondering why it seems the only gay rights issue that gets talked about is marriage in the first damn place...

...but all that feels a bit beside the point to me right now.

So I'll just say this:

Thank you, Mr. President.

...I want Hank/Dagny fic. I'm even kind of tempted to write it. But I'm scared that whatever fandom exists will be full of complete crazazy, so I don't think I'll go looking. If there's any fandom I'd guess would be completely batshit bonkers, it would be hers. (Which probably means it's actually full of nice people, just by the law of The Universe, It Likes To Laugh At Your Assumptions, Foolish Mortal.)

I love them together though. Much more than I like Dagny with either of her other two beaux. The other two are such perfect archetypes that they don't have anything interesting about them. But Hank has flaws (whether what the internal logic of the story calls flaws or what I'd call flaws), and so does Dagny.

And although it's part of the point of the story that their appraisal of themselves as flawed turns out to be wrong, I like it. I love the bit where Hank turns to Dagny and says, "We're a pair of blackguards, aren't we?" I guess I'm just a sucker for the bad guys -- even when the supposed bad guys turn out to be the good guys.

I think that's part of what I like, though. I love stories where the point is to turn assumptions on their heads. I think that's why I love the Decepticons so much in TF fandom and am not all that interested in the Autobots. It's not that I don't like them or they're uninteresting inherently -- it's that I love exploring what "morality" would look like from an inverted starting point.

I think that's why I can really like Rand while also thinking she was very wrong about a lot of things -- because my enjoyment of the story exists whether or not she's right. I can like the characters whether I see them as maligned heroes, as I'm supposed to, or as villain protagonists it's fun to root for anyway, or anything in between.

These were originally posted to themockingjay. They are all unbetaed.

Title: Mercy
Character: Seneca Crane
Rating: PG I suppose -- it's a bit dark, but there's no explicit violence
Contains: Spoilers for the end of the first book, and a minor spoiler for the second book/for something at the end of the movie.
Word Count: 552
Summary: Why Seneca Crane made his decision at the end of the 74th Games. The motives imputed to him in canon never quite sat right with me, so I decided to play around with it a bit. This thing is the result.

Title: Waking
Characters: Haymitch, Katniss, Effie
Rating: PG I suppose
Word Count: 550 or so
Warnings: None, really.
Summary: The reaping for the 74th Games, from Haymitch's perspective.  

This entry was originally posted at http://stainless.dreamwidth.org/36597.html. It has comments there. Please comment here or there.

I like him. I really like honorable bad guys, because I think when they're written well it's interesting to see the tension between someone's being a villain and acting in honorable ways that make you like him despite being bad. (This is how I prefer Megatrons to be, too. Awful and terrible and unnerving, but understandable and likeable because of intelligence/"presence"/a code of honor, etc. I'm disappointed with TFP Megatron because although there's quite a lot I like about him, I thought he was going to be of this type but instead of being honorable yet creepy he's just deranged and hammy. Overly hammy. Sorry, Frank. Even you can apparently overdo it.)

I'm torn on Megatron's "You disobeyed me! You'll make a fine first officer <3" bit, though. On the one hand, it did make me laugh. And beyond simple laughs, I was glad to see Megatron genre savvy enough to recognize that he has a thing for rebellious types. It's rarely addressed in any continuity, and when the Megatron in question is smart/clever/savvy/scary it seems glaringly stupid in the midst of Intelligent Villainy. But as a one-liner it still makes little sense, especially when he was waxing poetic(ally hammy) about loyalty an episode before that. I want to see more of where his mind is with all that.

I think it's doable, too. I think that most Megatrons are planners and schemers but also big risk takers. I think some version of that could actually make it make sense as more than a joke. Megatron's driving principle, or one of them anyway, is a might makes right, the strong reign over the weak thing. He wants the (strongest, cleverest, smartest, slyest, most evil, whatever) at his side -- which means there's likely to be friction of some kind between the two in some way. Possibly not -- someone like Soundwave is the smartest but also the most loyal -- but the likelihood is high.

So like most things in TFP, I thought it was neat, but I really want to see them do more with it.