Prompts @haveprompts - Tumblr Blog

rereading artificial condition (again) and the scene where Tapan sleeps next to MB in the hotel is killing me. like. what if your entire view of yourself was predicated on the fact that you are a dangerous killing machine. and then a tiny squishy human curls up next to you because you make her feel safe. what then

#tmbd

hermit-skrab

Love that Murderbot sees itself as the absolute worst most dangerous thing in any room at any given time

Except ☝️when a combat SecUnit or combat bot shows up

Then it's a very sudden turn to "I am a mid sized herding breed and that is a fucking wolf. All my sheep and myself are going to die"

#tmbd

fallinel

not enough of a spotlight is shown on Ratthi and Gurathin in Fugitive Telemetry. SecUnit isn't allowed to hack government security systems so it invites its Two Best Guy Friends to come watch it break into a transport ship, AND BOTH OF THEM ARE LIKE "sure thing, sounds fun" ?? They put up the weakest "are you sure this is a good idea?" argument but otherwise just do what SecUnit needs (which is stand in front of security cameras and act as character witnesses). SecUnit's narration also implies that it would have just let its Two Best Guy Friends tag along for the rest of its murder investigation, for funsies, except the cops said no (booooo).

later THE SAME DAY, SecUnit (famously allergic to asking for help) messages their group chat "I need help" with ZERO context, which gives Ratthi and Gurathin such a shock they almost knock their table over. then it facetimes them from the NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM to ask which of these Preserved Artifacts works best for jetting out into space? and Ratthi and Gurathin are like, "that one with the red tags, but ummm why?"

"don't worry about it," it says, "I'll tell you later."

then it HANGS UP and they don't hear from it for the rest of the day.

just a day in the life.

#tmbd

ladycrimsonandblack

absolutely insane that murderbot says this in the exact same novel in which it creates a child that argues with it.

#tmbd

ellorgast

The thing that I think really sets Murderbot apart from a lot of other robot media (particularly mainstream entries like the I, Robot movie) is that bots and constructs aren't a uniquely oppressed class, and humans aren't a uniquely privileged one. A lot of robot media rings a bit hollow because it portrays humans as all living a lavish, comfortable lifestyle, free from the burden of physical labor or control by their corporate overlords, and it's like. I think if the rise of generative AI has proven anything, it's that corporations and billionaires have absolutely no interest in making life easier for anybody, but will gleefully use new technology to make life infinitely worse if it means an extra buck in their pocket.

We are shown over and over again throughout the Murderbot Diaries that humans are mistreated just as badly as (or sometimes, in MB's own opinion, even worse than) bots and constructs. We see humans stripped of their rights, reduced to corporate assets to be bought and sold, sent into suicidal situations, abandoned and discarded as things. We see humans trapped in multigenerational labor contracts -- people born into an indentured servitude that requires them to pay back their food and lodging to the same company that will not let them leave.

None of these are hypothetical scenarios. These are all things that happen to real people in our world today.

And that is a huge part of why it resonates so much. The overarching theme of "capitalism is hell" actually means something because it isn't only applied to the fictional dynamic of bots vs humans. The theme is constantly reiterated through the humans themselves.

And that's also why it's so important that MB demonstrates empathy for and solidarity with humans who are themselves victims of the system. Because ultimately, that's one of the main things the series is about. It's about what it's like to be simultaneously a product, and victim, of a corporate hellscape.

That theme simply can't work if the humans aren't also forced to navigate that issue. If the story can't acknowledge that right now, in our own world, there are humans facing these same problems, and that these human rights matter quite a bit.

#tmbd

whimsicallywiddershins

Reading Artifical Conditon again is so funny. Imagine you are a young scientist who has decided to hire a security specialist to help you in a risky endeavor that could break or make your career. You are worried that you cannot afford any security specialist, let alone a competent one. To your surprise, you get a specialist who is extremely good at their job, willing to accept a low pay, saves your life many times, goes above and beyond to help you, and is also gentle and kind. You cannot understand how you got this lucky.

You do not realize your security specialist is two bots in a trench coat, pretending to be human for the first time ever.

#murderbot #murderbot diaries #tmbd #art murderbot #perihelion #artificial condition

mabsart

It’s not an ex-SecUnit.

You can’t be an ex-SecUnit until you’re dead.

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries #tmbd

pizzazz-party

big ass military-grade CombatUnits as soon as they find out the widdle rogue SecurityUnit is calling itself "murderbot":

pizzazz-party

the (surviving) big ass CombatUnits once SecUnit has successfully extracted its clients and blown up the facility and run off with stolen proprietary data or whatever it came here to do:

#murderbot #love seeing it be like we are so over and then 30 mins later the power of friendship and/or incredible violence has once again prevailed #the combatunits: 'a little ambitious there aren't we champ'#tmbd

suckunit

more babbyhelion, based on goofs made in the new tideland server

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries #tmbd #asshole research transport #art tmbd #perihelion #seth tmbd #iris tmbd #holism tmbd

uovoc

Honestly this makes Iris &co's reactions to murderbot totally understandable because I too would be SO curious about this exotic "rogue SecUnit" who apparently has got my spaceship older sib sighing dreamily and twirling its metaphorical hair and wondering how it would look with a few intelligence drone accessories. And if the first time I met it it saved my life (with dramatic explosions). Well

#job offer speedrun #murderbot #tmbd

installationwizard

one cute detail about murderbot is that its always running calculations on how likely an event is to happen. its always commenting on the statistical likelihood of something. and yet. it still thinks “but what if theres a space monster, like in my shows”

#tmbd

left-ily-bye

murderbot's primary combat tactic is to go up a wall. that's its favorite move. no one ever sees it coming, man. its second favorite combat tactic is to body tackle entities in the face. nothing on or off the planet is funnier than murderbot fighting like a flying squirrel

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries #tmbd

mongeese

The Murderbot Diaries are a power fantasy about being aromantic and still developing extremely important dedicated emotionally intimate partnerships where you are a top priority in a person's life, equal to their other family or romantic attachments despite your own emotional difficulties. And having guns in your arms

#murderbot #tmbd

murderbot-moodboard

I love them your honor

(original image from this Tumblr post)

#murderbot #asshole research transport #perihelion #art tmbd #the murderbot diaries #tmbd

jadefyre

imagine being a lonely introverted kid and you don’t get along with your peers and one day a frankly very sketchy individual shows up at your door and next thing you know you’re sneaking out of the house with said sketchy individual (it’s okay because you’re friends now) and the two of you break, like, so many laws but it’s okay because you were doing it to help people. and also your new friend let you do surgery on it.

#art tmbd #murderbot #tmbd #artificial condition

space-mouse

i'm rereading the murderbot diaries and murderbot's utter conviction that it and gurathin are bitter enemies is still so funny. buddy. gurathin got over this months ago. he's just a quiet guy.

theaicollective

one-sided antagonism is so delicious. murderbot diaries i also very much enjoy how surreal it must be for gurathin / to know that the heavily armed rogue secunit holds a grudge against him / and also know that all it will ever choose to do about this is make frowny faces and flip him the bird. / (tags via space-mouse)