Aster

Harder, Better, Aster, Tronblr. My purple-circuited Tron blog. I'm Aster (or Tili).

[astercontrol]

I'm Aster!

(Formerly big-overload-little-derez)

Tron nerd (1982-focused).

Astercontrol.com

Tiliquain on Discord

(Mission Day)

AsterControl and Tiliquain on AO3

Often not suitable for Users under 18.

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Wildcard

(I do all the things)

Pattern recognition program

(I see connections between all the things)

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Ram and Tron and Yori are my sweethearts and OT3.

About Me: The Asterpost

My Tags

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write this down now, just in case: If my Tumblr ever disappears, you can reach me at astercontrol(at)proton(dot)me (yes that's an email address) and we'll go from there to figure out how we'll stay in touch but we will NOT lose each other. Okay??

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Where else you can find me

And why

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Notable posts, semi-organized:

Headcanons (plot and themes)

Headcanons (character analysis)

Jokes and memes

Creativeness

My Core Programming (Fannish)

My Core Programming (Serious)

My Core Programming (Silly)

Dialogues (Fictional)

Dialogues (Fandom)

Dialogues (Asks)

[astercontrol]

I love posts about the dilemma between "if it sucks hit da bricks" and "do it scared," and how difficult it is to know which type of situation you're in

And I love how every few days someone posts an "answer" to that dilemma

And how it always boils down to "well, option 1 is for when the consequences of backing out are better than the consequences of sticking with it! And option 2 is for the other way around!"

as if the whole idea of being in that dilemma wasn't ALL ABOUT how you cannot see the future and know the consequences of what you're about to do

If you are in a position to know for sure which choice would have a better outcome, then you are not the person asking the question "hey which one should i do"

I mean i know we go on this website to waste time but c'mon this is hilarious

[astercontrol]

this too

[butt-rice]

all advice is pretty ass.

like, old people will always express regrets like "oh i wish i had been more assertive and direct. i wish i had taken more time for myself", but these are opinions that you can only have when you're not in the midst of the system. it's always a trade-off, and most people value having a roof over their head more than they value getting to tell their boss what they really think.

but in life, it's always "heads i win, tails you lose".

practice avoidance and hit da brix if you want, grit your teeth and do it scared if you want, you're gonna get fucked over and over and over again either way so it doesn't really matter.

[astercontrol]

someone said that to me once on twitter and I said "what are parties?" and got a million times more notes than the person who said it

(this was during the middle of Covid lockdown so that's probably why. Also the thing I said that got that response was a fun fact about frog genitals so idk what they were smoking, I'd be SO fun at a party. if I ever went to one. maybe.)

[astercontrol]

if we ever have to fight the undead and they're like in Shaun of the Dead where you can kill them by throwing a record like a frisbee and slicing off their heads, I would use pretty much all my vinyl records before I'd use my Tron laserdisc, which is kind of ironic because it's probably the only one of them all that actually secretly yearns to be used in that exact way

[astercontrol]

I love posts about the dilemma between "if it sucks hit da bricks" and "do it scared," and how difficult it is to know which type of situation you're in

And I love how every few days someone posts an "answer" to that dilemma

And how it always boils down to "well, option 1 is for when the consequences of backing out are better than the consequences of sticking with it! And option 2 is for the other way around!"

as if the whole idea of being in that dilemma wasn't ALL ABOUT how you cannot see the future and know the consequences of what you're about to do

If you are in a position to know for sure which choice would have a better outcome, then you are not the person asking the question "hey which one should i do"

I mean i know we go on this website to waste time but c'mon this is hilarious

[astercontrol]

this too

[astercontrol]

Whenever I see those posts going "I'm having trouble doing this thing because I'm scared." "Then DO IT SCARED!" ...there is a cynical part of me that is convinced any person who reblogs that as actual helpful advice is a Russian operative hired by whoever profits the most from convincing people that their problems can all be solved with willpower

[astercontrol]

That's a conspiracy-theory-esque exaggeration, and not what I actually believe, but my main point stands.

Sometimes you do need to do something while scared of it.

But if you are having trouble doing something because you're scared, that means your survival instinct is telling you that your fear is valid, and that something horrible will happen if you push past that fear.

And IF that's not actually true (which is important to ascertain before you "do it scared"!)

...then the next steps include:

- talk yourself through why the danger is not as bad as your fear is telling you it is

- talk yourself through why the potential reward of doing the thing is good enough to outweigh any risks

- prepare ways to reduce risks and make contingency plans in case something does go wrong

There is no point in that process where simply saying "do it scared" could possibly be of any help to me.

That's the kind of order that a parent or teacher might have pushed on me, in maybe kindergarten or first grade, as the first and only step in the process. And if it got me to do the thing, it did so only by replacing my initial fear with a greater fear of punishment by a parent or teacher.

I'm not saying it's impossible that there's someone who might actually find it helpful, somehow.

I just can't model in my head how that would work.

[astercontrol]

Yes all this!

And yeah there are some small fears I can push past without too much trouble

But, if I have gotten to the point where another person is giving me advice, that means my own executive function has already yelled the "just do it" command at the rest of me a whole bunch of times and gotten nowhere, so obviously another human yelling the same words isn't gonna succeed any better.

[astercontrol]

This also goes for the more recent rewording of the same advice, "just run straight at it screaming." wtf. how does this qualify as helpful. i am so curious

[novismare]

It will never not bother me that Legacy was almost a completely different movie had Alan answered the page instead of Sam

[astercontrol]

bothers me too

want that version so much lol

[astercontrol]

fascinating to me how the meme "they had us in the first half, not gonna lie" has been adapted to a context almost opposite from its origin

at least-- if I understand the sportsball context correctly-- the player is saying that his team knew, from the first half of the game, that the other team was going to win

(and did in fact win, and this did not surprise anyone)

whereas, when the quote is used as a reaction… it usually means that the speaker is completely surprised

that in the "first half," the outcome was expected to be totally different from what it ended up being

so fascinating.

it's like the history of the reaction image mirrored the story within its own second act: a sudden opposite outcome, appearing from nowhere

[pussyronin-deactivated20260120]

the cruel doctor pepper experimented on me and now im the first human soda hybrid

[astercontrol]

you're like Iron Man except instead of a magnet in your chest you've got a can of soda

Who'd have known Pepper was secretly a mad scientist doctor. (she's done experiments on Iron Man too. Hey, working for him would probably drive anyone a bit mad)

[astercontrol]

Posting this draft of my Tron/Ram/Yori pansexual polycule art while it's still the first day of Pride!

(I went out to a library with a friend and we reserved a room and drew art for a couple hours. Then I crashed and slept the rest of the day, because nocturnal, this is the price of working night shift and having friends sometimes)

It's not done. I plan to add some finishing touches and a background and then do a high quality scan of it. But this is my phone camera pic of what I have so far.

The story behind it.

Short version: the Deleted Love Scene shows Yori taking her "true form" because the MCP isn't looking and she gets to be herself now. (The novelization says Tron has a similar transformation, but doesn't give a lot of details.)

I wanted to imagine all three of them taking their true forms, with circuit patterns more true to who they are.

Yori's are my own riff on what we saw in the Love Scene. They represent Yori's creativity and simulation skills.

Ram's new patterns are based on graphs of probability functions, because he's an actuarial program.

And Tron's are similar to his original pattern, just more flowing. His focus is very personally dedicated. The four shapes on his chest represent himself, his two partners, and his User. The surrounding lines represent security -- his purpose in the system, and also his personal vow to protect his loved ones.

[astercontrol]

Do you like sea horses? I think sea horses are better than land horses

Yes I like seahorses! They are really cool and weird and very different from any other creature, and you know I often like weird things just for being weird

wouldn't want to have either them or land horses as a pet though, both seem very high maintenance.

[markovchaingang]

men and women are not opposites. men and women are not enemies. men and women are two parts of a broad coalition which fights against a mutual enemy: inkjet printers

[astercontrol]

Is this why the pansexual flag looks like a CYM printer cartridge. It's symbolic of the only thing that actually unites all the genders (common enemy)

[astercontrol]

happy pride

may we all be united

[stuckasmain]

No judgement… is a silk shirt stupid for SoCal yes or no?

[astercontrol]

I lived in SoCal for 3 years and I do not know what their standards for clothing being stupid are. I doubt something as simple as a standard exists for that. I am pretty sure I saw every possible way a person can be dressed, and the reaction seemed to depend entirely on which other person was reacting.

(If you're talking about, like, comfort in the climate, then my point still stands, because SoCal is a large area that contains practically all possible biomes divided from each other by lines as narrow as a city block, due to its position relative to mountains and ocean.)

[ballsmacker30]

Got bored and made one of those "character relationship tropes"(?) things

[astercontrol]

Even if Bruce Boxleitner wasn't a specific sort of facial anomaly, it's kinda weird being largely face-blind and being a fan of a character who's a brown-haired standard-sized white guy with no identifying features except "wears glasses"

Almost anything can be Alan Bradley fanart

But the cherry on top of it was when I saw someone call this sort of generic face "the Flynn Rider phenomenon"

and... well...

[astercontrol]

okay--

this just got a little bit funnier.

with some more context I just learned

which is:

the role that was adapted into the character Flynn Rider

(namely, the role of the prince who climbed up Rapunzel's tower)

was played in a 1983 Faerie Tale Theatre production

by...

yep.

Flynn himself

Post by @alilgayblog · 4 images

💬 0  🔁 7  ❤️ 19 · Jeff Bridges Faerie Tale Theatre - "Rapunzel" (1983)

...and I even remember seeing this version! Long long ago, as a kid-- a kid who was significantly more face-blind and more clueless-about-actors than I am now. So I had no idea.

Anyway, with how much Disney loves making subtle references and connections... I now suspect this might have been on purpose.

ah, Disney corporation. we're not so different, you and i. In another reality (a distant far-off one where you're not evil as fuck) i could have called you friend.

[tamara-kama]

I need to get me a new bed set because right now I just have black sheets and I would like to bring in something more colorful and rad to offset the darkness of much of the rest of the room!

Probably something cute and or vaporwave/synthwavy!! 💜

[astercontrol]

Aster

okay SOMEONE in the marketing department at this "light-in-the-box" place is SPECIFICALLY tryna get ME to shop for bedding there ...is it NO

[astercontrol]

my pattern recognizer brain can't decide whether to connect Tron (1982) to "Animator Versus Animation" through the obvious channel

(digital creations in a computer, the significance of their different colors, and their relationship with their creator, who is named Alan)

or the non-obvious channel (A.V.A. = Ava= name of protagonist of Warrior Nun = warrior who uses a circular weapon she keeps on her upper back = identity disc, videogame warrior)

or some secret other option (there must be others, for that is the nature of reality) (millions of channels. millions of layers) (just like a flash animation i guess)

[astercontrol]

no i will not connect this to any other properties right now though. i've had enough for tonight.

suck my amazing digital circuits.

[astercontrol]

my pattern recognizer brain can't decide whether to connect Tron (1982) to "Animator Versus Animation" through the obvious channel

(digital creations in a computer, the significance of their different colors, and their relationship with their creator, who is named Alan)

or the non-obvious channel (A.V.A. = Ava= name of protagonist of Warrior Nun = warrior who uses a circular weapon she keeps on her upper back = identity disc, videogame warrior)

or some secret other option (there must be others, for that is the nature of reality) (millions of channels. millions of layers) (just like a flash animation i guess)