#characters analysis

[shadoughmilk]

What I find really interesting is that we already know Shadow Milk failed countless times, yet he kept trying again and again until there was practically nothing left of the universe to reset.

The glimpse TK gave us of Shadow Milk makes that even more unsettling. It is clear that his mind is unstable, but it also seems like his dough itself has become corrupted. He is not just mentally broken anymore; he looks like he is in serious physical pain as well.

That is honestly what makes it so sad to me. Every time Shadow Milk fails, he refuses to accept it and creates another timeline instead. He keeps repeating the cycle until time itself starts collapsing, leaving behind nothing but chaos.

He cannot let go of his need to control everything. And with all those souls trapped inside him, it seems like he became more and more consumed by them. Each attempt only made him worse, but he still kept forcing new timelines into existence.

He started this whole “revenge” plan without any real direction or purpose. Unlike DE, Shadow Milk does not seem to have a clear goal or a structured plan. He is not building toward some specific outcome. He just wants to destroy everything, tear it all apart, and make everyone else feel even a fraction of the pain he is carrying.

He is already broken in every possible way, so he projects that suffering outward. If he cannot escape his own pain, then he wants the world around him to collapse with him.

But the real question is: what happens after that?

Once everything is ruined, once everyone has suffered, once there is nothing left to break, what does he actually gain?

Nothing, really.

Because revenge will not fix him. It will not undo what happened to him, and it will not give him back the parts of himself he lost. It will only leave him standing in the middle of the destruction he created, still empty, still hurting, and still completely alone.

[anime97-99]

Steve’s sexuality and Scopolamine

The Cinema

When Steve and Robin were at the cinema, it was the first time they “watched” Back to the Future (Btf). Since they were drugged with “truth serum”, which was probably Scopolamine, they couldn't fake or control their reactions.

This is because they weren't aware of their behavior because the drug was suppressing mainly the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for rational thought. They also affect the hippocampus (memories) and the amygdala (feel of danger).

Here are both of their reactions to the movie. More specifically, you can see the exact moment Marty enters the scene and the shift in Steve's behavior:

Scopolamine’s severe impairment of the attention span

It is important to note the contrast between Robin and Steve’s reactions, despite them being in the same drugged state. While Robin is distracted, Steve’s sudden attention and awed expression (he forgets the popcorn he was about to eat) isn't about the movie’s special effect, it’s a direct response to the person appearing front and center on the screen, Marty McFly.

It is important to remember that, as I mentioned before, this drug causes a total loss of focus. They can't follow the movie's plot, which explains why they are constantly confused or why they suddenly wander off to find water.

Even so, Steve later claims at Family Video’s interview that it's in his top 3 fave movies. He might have rewatched it, but that seems unlikely since he only clearly remembers the car and Marty’s character. This suggests his ranking is based on the intense impression the movie left on him while he was drugged, rather than an actual understanding of the story.

Appearances vs. Reality

You can appreciate this here:

Steve struggles with appearances, likely because they were ingrained in him at home. While we don't know exactly how the Harringtons became so wealthy in a small town like Hawkins, I suspect it traces back to his grandfather, Otis Harrington. As I pointed before here and here.

As a war hero, Otis may have had ties to the CIA, Project MKUltra, or the Family Jewels reports and the Watergate Scandal, talking about all this experiments in American citizens and soldiers.

This theory is supported by the show in S4, we know Hopper was exposed to similar clandestine operations like Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam, which was a common occurrence during that era.

Following this brief summary, let’s look at Steve’s fear of failure.

Appearances are vital to the Harringtons, who strive to maintain the image of the “perfect role-model family” in Hawkins. On the surface, they present themselves as the ideal citizens, but the subtext suggests a much darker or more hollow reality within the home.

What we know of Steve’s parents is minimal, aside from their wealth, their status in Hawkins, and their expensive clothing. We know his father is an asshole, likely a womanizer or a troublemaker, because Steve mentions in S1 that his mother (who has a really good reputation in Hawkins as he told Robin in S3) only travels with him to “keep him in check”. Or maybe it is another excuse to get away, maybe Steve was never really wanted.

They are perpetually absent, either on business or vacation. While they likely used to spoil him, Steve’s “fall from grace” and poor grades seem to have changed that.

He now pays for almost everything himself (and we see this in the epilogue even though I believe is fake). Interestingly, his work ethic isn't new, he worked at the local pool, like Billy, even before the events of S1, suggesting he’s always sought some level of independence from his family's shadow. We also know that Steve’s uncle is an influential lawyer, a detail Robin brings up in S5. Steve’s reaction, ignoring her and abruptly changing the subject, clearly shows his discomfort with his family's connections. Furthermore, his relationship with his mother seems to have soured by S5 too, since he becomes visibly defensive the moment Dustin mentions her, suggesting that the “perfect family” facade has completely crumbled for him and he is exhausted of it all.

It is also vital to note that Steve is repeatedly subjected to brutal physical trauma (and concussion trauma, I don’t know why this is not bring up more often), torture and drugging, yet his parents seem completely indifferent. This is a clear case of negligent parenting, they have effectively abandoned him emotionally but also physically at some point, which is another form of abuse. Their lack of a reaction to his injuries proves that they are more concerned with their own lives and appearances than with the actual well-being of their son.

Considering Steve is an only child, and after seeing Danny Harrington's (Steve’s dad) brief appearance in S5. It seems likely that Steve was unplanned. In a family where appearances prevail, he may have been kept more for status than out of desire. This explains why Steve constantly seeks external validation and is so genuinely surprised when others show him unconditional care, like Dustin does in S5. Because he feels he is not enough, he believes he must constantly provide or sacrifice to be tolerated by the “found family” he has built and is so terrified of losing. This deep-seated insecurity is exactly why he feels so conflicted regarding Dustin and Jonathan in S5.

In S1, Steve sought the recognition he lacked at home by being loud and popular (much like Naruto), he acted out because he felt invisible.

Meeting Nancy (especially since she was the first to act different with him) and Dustin changed everything, he realized people could see him for who he truly was, which triggered his intense fear of failure, that already existed because of lack of affection and attention from his parents. He was desperate to prove himself to them.

By S2, his sense of responsibility began to shift from a burden to a source of genuine fulfillment. However, he still feels out of place, leading him to take extreme risks to “prove” his value. He remains trapped by the status-driven values he learned as a child. It’s a difficult cycle to break because his core values were born from superficiality and a desperate, misguided need to be loved, because of his parents and childhood.

We see this performative, superficial act frequently, for example during the Family Video interview. Notice how he avoids eye contact with Keith when answering Animal House as one of his fave movies, it's a show-off move. He is listing movies that fit his popular persona rather than his actual interests. In reality, Steve wasn't even a movie buff until he met Robin. By S4, however, he’s giving genuine advice to customers, showing real growth.

The same tension appears with Star Wars, when he mentions “the one with the teddy bears”, he immediately checks Robin’s reaction. He is terrified of failing the interview or looking “out of place”, showing how carefully he calculates his answers to avoid being judged, he also does this a lot with Dustin and Nancy.

Then suddenly, he loses his composure and gets excited remembering Back to the Future (Btf). This should have been the first movie he mentioned, especially since he is literally cosplaying Marty with the same jacket and his famous shoes.

While the drugs likely blurred his memory of the plot, the visual impression of the DeLorean and Marty was incredibly strong. Even in a drugged state, his attention was captivated by them, which is a significant detail. Interestingly, despite being dressed as the lead character and showing genuine excitement for the first time, he leaves this movie for last. When he realizes he’s getting hyped, he becomes shy and pulls back, retreating into his shell.

His real fave movie, even without really knowing the plot. Just notice his body language:

He is scared to show his true self, even to Robin. He has lived safe in his shell all his life, so it is difficult to risk leaving it. It is easy for him to listen and help others, but hard for him to let others in.

And even though he is really resilient, it will get heavy and end in a bad situation, leading to “burnout” and/or potentially “borderline personality disorder”. (It can be both because they can be linked)

In fact, you can already see the symptoms, aside his depressive behavior, he is already experiencing in S5, but still he moves in his “babysitter” way and feels responsible of them and instead of looking for himself, he is selfless and almost always puts others first. As I pointed here.

This is a perfect example of that, and also evidence of the fake ending.

In the epilogue, he tries to hide his tears, which is a trait of the “old Steve”.

The truth is that he had actually accepted that vulnerable part of himself after his talk with Dustin in ep 8, right before going after Vecna.

Seeing him hide his emotions again shows he is regressing.

Same Clothes

Link to Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/article/dressing-like-your-crush

Steve didn't just buy Marty’s shoes and a similar jacket, he began styling his entire wardrobe after him between the end of S3 and S4. This mirrors how Vickie began mirroring Robin in S4. Steve’s crush on Marty led him to adopt Marty’s aesthetic because he was deeply attracted to that persona. By dressing like him, Steve was trying to capture the essence of someone he admired, making his attraction a part of his own identity.

And it is not the only time he does this.

In S5, he literally dresses like Eddie. Eddie was likely the first man Steve felt something deeper for beyond a mere crush and where he was aware of his feelings after “Marty’s awakening”. Just as he mirrored Marty’s style after the cinema experience, his adoption of Eddie’s look in S5 suggests a deep emotional connection. You can see him suffering also because of his death but he prefers to keep it to himself. After talking with Dustin and accepting that cared about Eddie’s death and Dustin’s grief. He is wearing the clothes of the man he lost, signaling that his safe shell is finally breaking under the weight of his genuine feelings.

Steve and Billy

I also believe there was a clear attraction between Billy and Steve in S2, a sexual power play of dominance that ultimately led nowhere because they were opposite sides of the same coin. Both were trapped by their values, appearances, and a desperate need to fit in.

Billy’s father and his toxic, abusive household turned him into a “monster”, yet he remained a victim of his circumstances. Because Steve was only just beginning his own transformation, a relationship was impossible at that time.

While I feel bad for Billy, his actions were still horrific, and while death wasn't necessary, even if it served as his only escape and redemption at the moment. From a psychological perspective, abused children or women often struggle to distinguish right from wrong because violence was normalized for them. This is a crucial factor when treating survivors of abuse, helping them understand that violence is not love and that they deserve to be safe.

However, as I mentioned, trauma does not give someone the right to hurt others. Even though being an abused child is a significant risk factor for becoming an abuser, it isn't a certainty. Ultimately, people choose whether or not to become their own worst nightmare. Billy chose to lean into those toxic mechanics to survive, whereas Steve (Will, El, Max and Jonathan, even Eddie), despite his own upbringing, made the conscious choice to change.

Steve and Nancy/Robin (S3)

Steve’s relationships with Nancy and S3 Robin are primarily driven by his struggle with appearances. He fell for Nancy because she was the first to truly see the real him, but that romantic connection effectively ended by S2.

His “love” for Robin in S3 was actually a reaction to the insecurity he felt after his attraction to Billy and his more conscious interest in Marty.

By S4, his sudden re-interest in Nancy served as a way to reassure himself of his straight identity while he was falling for Eddie. His dream of a “perfect family with six little nuggets” is a classic heteronormative shield, he uses the kids as a placeholder for the family he never had.

Ultimately, his conflict with Jonathan in S5 isn't about Nancy, it’s about proving his value to his found family.

It was never a love triangle, it was a series of misunderstandings born from his fear of being different.

And also this:

This is something I have talked about here. I also did an analysis of Jancy being a “prison” relationship, and the potential of Ronance and Stonathan here and Steve’s character and Will being Henry since ep 4 here. Basically, Will’s feelings for Mike parallels Steve here.

Steve and Jonathan

Steve’s self-discovery journey is long, and he learns a lot about both others and himself. I believe Jonathan is the love he has been looking for all along.

WSQKsync: The show synchronized the dark screen with Jonathan saving Steve exactly as the lyrics “I wanna know what love is” play. To add to this, the moment is a deliberate parallel to the scene where Henry saves Patty as she is falling in the first shadow.

This suggests that what Steve is experiencing with Jonathan isn't just a friendship or a rivalry, it is the answer to the question asked by the song itself.

We can tell the feeling is reciprocated because, in the epilogue, Jonathan repeatedly asks Steve to come live with him in NYC. This invitation is significant, Jonathan is offering Steve an escape from his family and Hawkins. Jonathan wants Steve to be a permanent part of his future as a partner in a new life.

Hopper does the same thing with Joyce.

Thank you @strange-anni for telling me!! Link: https://x.com/bylerslabyrinth/status/2016639399329435937

Baseball Coach

After all that progress and self-acceptance, seeing Steve retreat and conform is a massive red flag. He even chooses to play baseball, a sport we’ve never seen him play before!!

This is a clear sign that something is wrong. He isn't moving forward, he’s performing. By picking up a traditional hobby and acting the part of the perfect suburban man, he is desperately trying to silence himself and appease his father’s expectations one last time.

As you can see, Will and Steve have a lot in common and the same applies to Mike. Ultimately, they never directly confess their feelings. When Will calls Mike a “friend” in ep 8, Mike is left with only the certainty of friendship.

Since that is better than losing him entirely, Mike settles for it, and the misunderstanding is never resolved. In the end, conformity wins, and they stop fighting for what they truly feel.

This is the face of confort, there is a mix of sourness and happiness. He still has Will in his life but not like he would like.

Tell them Max, tell them!!

The self awareness should be the main indicator that there is more to it!!

[capnmarvl]

Basic Psychological Needs Theory Applied to Commander Shepard’s Backgrounds

I have a doctorate in social psychology and like video games a little too much. I think there’s a lot of interesting things to be said about the background choices that really never get explored in the game. I think these backgrounds also inform a lot of our understanding/characterization of Shepard. The TLDR of this is basically psychology’s favorite joke - it depends, how Shepard is characterized depends largely on the influences that shaped her life. If I had to rank Shepard background combos from most to least well-adjusted it would have to be Spacer War Hero to Colonist Sole Survivor.

I’ll preface this with 1) I’m going to call Shep she because that’s how I play her and 2) I’ve only ever played Sole Survivor or War Hero, I’ve never played the Ruthless background and honestly that might be more of a discussion of the dark triad than needs theory, 3) I’ve played all 3 Pre-Service Histories but I’m most familiar with Spacer and Colonist.

Please feel free to add your own thoughts/opinions on this, particularly if you’ve played some of the backgrounds more often than I have!

In psychology there is a mini-theory within the Self-Determination Theory called the Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT). Briefly, the BPNT posits that we are predominately driven by 3 core needs - Belonging, Autonomy, and Competence. Belonging refers to a desire to be accepted and wanted by other people, to be a part of a group. Autonomy refers to a desire to make our own decisions, to be our own unique person. Competence refers to a desire to be capable and effective, to be a skilled at what we do. Although it is a theory on self-esteem attainment, it is also fundamentally a theory of intrinsic motivation. So it works well as a character analysis framework to ask the question: What motivates this character?

I’m going to walk through each need (in reverse order) and how I think it relates to the backgrounds and offer some ideas about how it might affect adult Shepard.

Added a cut because it didn’t and this is long as fuck.

Need for Competency

We fulfill our need for competency by learning skills and becoming good at (typically) things that interest us. We often measure our competency against some form of mile-marker, such as getting a certain number of kudos on a fic. When need for competency is not met, our self-efficacy suffers and we may engage in maladaptive coping strategies such as self-sabotage to compensate. For instance, you might purposefully post a drawing during a time when you know it won’t get picked up by the algorithm and therefore won’t get any notes. We may also overcompensate for our weakness by leaning too hard into an activity, such as if you think you are a bad runner you might run until collapse every day.

I think fundamentally no matter the background, Shepard is competent. She’s a decorated military officer, very clearly respected by everyone she knows. She is also (outwardly) confident. I think this is the most true for the War Hero background.

I think however you can maybe make an interesting argument for imposter syndrome, particularly with the Sole Survivor background. You have a character who is competent but she lost her entire team. She might experience survivors guilt over this, she might question if she really deserves the accolades that she has. She might push herself harder and farther than she should because she is trying to fulfill this need.

As for her childhood, I think there could be an interesting dynamic depending on how you characterize Shepard’s mother in the Spacer background. If she’s nurturing and kind, then maybe Shepard, regardless of background, feels more competent because we know from developmental psychology children of nurturing parents tend to have more stable and higher senses of self-esteem. If she’s hard and distant, then maybe Shepard has a hard time seeing her own self-worth because she never received the scaffolding in childhood to view herself as good and competent. With the other two childhoods, I think for Colonist it still matters how her parents were characterized but it also then matters who she had as a parental figure after their death. Then for Earthborn, well I don’t think Shepard was being told very often that she was good and loved by the gang. I imagine she still might struggle with self-esteem. 

Need for Autonomy

We fulfill our need for autonomy by making choices for ourselves and developing unique personalities. Need for autonomy hinges on control over one’s life. If this need is not met we often feel as though our life is being lived for us. We see the war for this need fulfillment in adolescence as they break away from their parents and strike out on their own to become competent, fully rounded adults. We may overcompensate for this need by engaging in risky behaviors that allow us to exert some form of control over our lives. Or by distancing ourselves from family and peers and overall ‘rebelling’. Burnout, disengagement, turnover are all really common side effects of poor autonomy in one’s job.

Inherently, the Military is going to put constraints on need for autonomy but I think Shepard’s Spectre status alleviates some of these issues and allows the player themselves to not feel as though their autonomy is being massively constrained. 

I think specifically the Spacer background offers a potentially unique experience. Shepard’s mother is canonically a Captain (and later a Rear Admiral). We first have to ask whether Shepard’s decision to join the Alliance was truly her own or if she felt pressured to do so by her mother. I think a pressured Shepard chafes against the decision far more than one who entered the Alliance willingly and maybe even because she actually wants to follow her mother. Maybe her career history is dotted with more issues than other versions would be. Maybe this Shepard leans into the Spectre status more fully or sees it as a means of escape. I think then regardless of Shepard’s own motivations to join the Alliance, you have this additional issue of how does she set herself apart from her mother’s legacy. Is Shepard burdened by this desire to be more than Hannah Shepard’s Daughter? Is she resentful of the comparisons or proud?

Maybe there’s something interesting about rebelling against the gang for our Earthborn Shepard, about wanting to be her whole authentic self that was impossible under the gang. Feel free for those with more thoughts on that background to weigh in.

War Hero Shepard probably has decent need for autonomy, she’s not high on my list of worries.

I think then, the Sole Survivor Shepard and the Colonist Shepard may have some difficulty with viewing her life as something she has control over. I think it’s very hard to believe you have control when your life has violently been torn apart. So maybe she does a lot of things, including her job, somewhat mechanically. She’s a good soldier because she follows every order and maybe there’s a slight detachment from reality there. And Colonist Sole Survivor Shepard? RIP.

Need for Belonging

We fulfill our need for belonging through our meaningful relationships with other people. We are social creatures and we like to be liked. (I could go on a tangent on Mark Leary’s Sociometer Theory as it pertains to the Need to Belong but I won’t drag a very nice man into my nonsense just yet). When this need is not met we take the biggest hit to our self-esteem, we often feel extremely worthless and as though we are unloved. Need for belonging has a funny war with need for autonomy because in order to get people to like us, we imitate them, but imitation is against the need for autonomy. We often find belonging more from our peers than our family though, who don’t have control over our actions, as a means of compensating for this war. When need for belonging is lacking we may act out in ways that increase the attention placed on us, maybe we align ourselves with people we shouldn’t, maybe we lose ourselves to imitating others so that they like us. 

Fundamentally, I think the need to belong is where you end up with the most discrepancies in various Shepard's behaviors. There’s a very real undercurrent of potential for found family, a trope I know not everyone is a fan of (which is valid even if I personally love it). I think a lot about the role Anderson specifically plays in helping with Shepard's need for belonging fulfillment. He is clearly a mentor, if not even a father figure, to her. There’s a suggestion that he’s known her for a while, maybe even since she joined the Alliance. The extent of that role is probably dependent on what other sources are influencing her life but he helps fulfill that need regardless.

I think there’s a really interesting play that can be made with Earthborn Shepard and the way leaving the gang was probably difficult in light of their fulfillment of this need to belong. And that even if the gang was a bad place, Shepard may always be searching for the sense of belonging again throughout her life. Maybe she makes some poor decisions about romantic partners or friends in her early years with the Alliance because she’s trying to find that feeling of being a part of something again. Maybe that’s why she bonds so quickly with her crew members on the Normandy, they offer a (healthier) version of a group. But then again, maybe it’s why she’s standoffish, the last group of people she worked with closely hurt her.

Colonist Shepard is just entering into the peak time for belonging to be prominently driven by the friends that we have, so it depends on the type of home or place she went after her parents died that will dictate whether or not she finds that connection she had and lost. But also maybe it makes her weary of allowing that connection in the first place. Maybe she’s standoffish on the SR1, afraid to get attached to people who might die and leave her.

I think Sole Survivor Shepard has a very similar issue. She lost her entire team and the guilt of being the only one left standing likely holds her like a vice. Survivor’s guilt is an extremely pervasive problem, and is fraught with cognitive distortions that would likely make it extremely difficult to form meaningful and healthy attachments to others.

And Colonist Sole Survivor Shepard? I used a line akin to ‘every family Shepard had ever had has been torn from her in acts of violence’ in a fic right before she goes on a full spiral and I really mean it. One terrible thing is enough but two terrible things? Now you have a person who maybe finally found a good group of people after having her family taken away from her and they also immediately die a gruesome death. Both of these happen during that emerging adulthood period that is so vulnerable to maladaption. I really believe this would fundamentally cause someone some serious issues. To me Colonist Sole Survivor Shepard is the least confident Shepard, she’s the one most riddled with doubts and fears. She puts on a brave face, she doesn’t let the fear stop her, but in the quiet after missions? I think she spends a lot of time alone in her room, away from everyone else.

Then there’s War Hero Shepard who probably has a different issue. It’s probably difficult for her to establish close bonds with people because to basically everyone she works with she’s Commander Shepard - Hero of the Skyllian Blitz and it’s hard to move past the hero worship to find meaningful relationships. I think maybe War Hero Shepard is lonely atop her pedestal and maybe she appreciates the alien crew on the SR1 a little bit more because they have no idea who she is or why she gets asked for autographs when they go places. And perhaps if the fighting was particularly brutal, she also lost people she cared about. That might bring in some of the issues I brought up above.

Spacer Shepard has a family and you get to decide how dysfunctional it is. Does she have a good relationship with her parents? Do they fulfill any portion of the need to belong? If they are rock solid then maybe Shepard is less inclined to get to know her team intimately, she has a family to turn to when she needs them. If they are severely dysfunctional then you run into the problem a lot of us have, you seek comfort elsewhere while maintaining some contact with your dysfunctional family. And sometimes that some contact hurts more than no contact and it necessitates fulfilling the need to belong elsewhere. 

Conclusion

All of these basic needs interact together to form a complex web of motivations for Commander Shepard and might explain what things are more or less important to her. For instance, a Shepard who has achieved high need for belonging and high need for autonomy might instead strive for high need for competence by throwing themselves headlong into missions without regard to potential bodily harm. 

All of this becomes infinitely more complex if we consider the role culture has on these needs. For instance, need for autonomy is overplayed in Western Cultures and downplayed in Eastern Cultures. 

As I said at the top, feel free to add your own interpretations or ideas. Or to share your own perspective. This is a very brief psychology lesson and a brief over look of how character traits might be related to this framework. 

[itz-pandora]

Thing I made for school :3

[sillyb00ks]

And at the end, the heart of the story doesn’t even get his happy ending. He spent his life writing everyone else’s, too afraid to live his own. The real him stays hidden behind the camouflage vest. Forgotten in the pages of his book. Shelved like nothing ever happened. Mike The Brave is just a toy he gifted his sister. They tell us he has two options: to get on with his life or dwell in the past. He chooses the latter. He lets everyone else get out, but he stays in the basement. He tells us he should have been realistic, instead of making up an ideal future. Except everyone else does have a happy future. Filled with love, comfort, joy. So it is possible, just not for him. What does he have? Memories? A Typewriter? A story to tell? Survivor’s guilt, grief, probably internalised homophobia, and a lot of “what ifs”. He suffered for years, but because he wasn’t good at expressing his pain, now everyone deems him the bad guy. The one who deserves to be alone, left behind. Someone’s Tammy. A side character to his own story.

Great message, really. Good Job

[crystaltrainwrecks]

Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack: What the hell is their history together???

So I’m going to start out by saying that, while I am a VERY strong shipper of these two, that’s not really the lens I’m looking at this through. It’s just that there are so many little details tossed in about their pasts that I just GOTTA ramble about it. Because the more I think about it, the more interesting it gets. But ANYWAYS HERE WE GO LADS—

1) “Feel free to choose the path of least resistance, as you did before.”

This is what Ultra Magnus says to Wheeljack in Season 3 episode 5 during a dispute regarding Wheeljack’s reckless behavior. Why I find this interesting is that this not only means that he remembers when Wheeljack left the Wreckers after he took command, but that he ALSO holds some bitterness on the subject. Of course the emotion and intent behind this line could be interpreted a multitude of ways, but I do find it oddly fascinating that it clearly shows that Magnus is actually still at least somewhat upset by that event even all this time later. There is ALSO the fact that Wheeljack actually pauses after that line—almost as if he’s at a loss for words—before storming out of the base. To me, this could almost be read as guilt on Wheeljack’s part, as if he regrets having left the Wreckers behind 👀

2) Ultra Magnus was Alone

When we are first introduced to his character, he is on his own under the claim that he is been searching for other Autobots. But here’s the thing—his last known post was with THE WRECKERS! Something I have a very hard time believing he would have simply abandoned, especially after his comment towards Wheeljack. Meaning something really REALLY bad must have happened for Ultra Magnus to leave his post.

3) “Roadbuster, Pyro, Impactor, Rotorstorm, Seaspray, all dust.”

This line is said by Wheeljack to Bulkhead in Season 2 Episode 6. Combine this with the fact that he was clearly surprised to stumble across Bulkhead back in season one, AND the fact that he seemingly ALSO stumbled across Seaspray by accident before trying to plan a meet up with him, and it becomes very clear very quickly that something bad must have happened to the Wrecker’s at some point. Whatever the event was, it caused the deaths of multiple comrades, while scattering the rest from each other entirely.

4) “Guys like Optimus. They talk a good game. But when you’re in the scrap, they don’t wanna get their hands dirty.”

AND

“It’s like I told ya. When the scrap hits the fan blades, the generals are the first to bail.”

Once again, these lines are said by Wheeljack to Bulkhead, Season 2 Episode 6. This shows that Wheeljack believes generals, commanders, and any higher ups to be unreliable if not just straight up cowards. With the fact that he mentioned this TWICE, I don’t think it’s too far fetched to say that some experience in his past is why he has come to believe this. Afterall, these comments seem to be less aimed at Optimus specifically, and more so at ALL generals/commanders.

So What the Hell Does All This Mean?

My best guess? I think Wheeljack left not long before the Wrecker’s were attacked by the Decepticons, leading to the deaths and/or scatterings all of his former comrades. Wheeljack’s guilt is due the fact he wasn’t there, and this could also be why Magnus may still hold anger for Wheeljack not having been present that day. I ALSO think that there’s a very high chance that Wheeljack blames Ultra Magnus for what happened, especially seeing as Magnus has been flying around on his own ever since then. Do I think Magnus abandoned the Wreckers during their time of need? No. HOWEVER, I could totally see Wheeljack thinking that about his former commander. Especially seeing as he never liked Magnus in the first place.

See stuff like this is why I so so so SO badly wish we could’ve gotten more episodes and character development between these two. I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM DAMN IT😭

Anywaysssss there’s my transformers prime ramble, I hope you all have a lovely day :D

[yannastarlight]

The Silent Salt Cookie Character Ramble: Slandering my GOAT (part 2/2)

Please read Part 1 of this post before you proceed! For the Slander continues!!!: 

Note: I will be discussing suicide through the perspective of narrative analysis. I am no stranger to how triggering or difficult this issue is for many as I have some experiences in relation to it. However I may come off as a bit insensitive towards the subject matter so I apologise in advance if anything I say regarding it triggers or offends you for it it is not my intention.

Corruption:

I like to compare Silent Salt to Truthless Recluse and while the Fandom loves to treat Truthless like a completely different person from Pure Vanilla (when actually he very much isn’t), I don’t see many acknowledge just how different Silent Salt is to Salt of Solidarity. So much of Salt of Solidarity’s Values and behavior is starkly contradicted by Silent Salt. 

Silent Salt cookie doesn’t understand Solidarity any more than his fellow Beasts understand their virtues. With the other Beast, their corrupted virtue is still the original one in a way: Apathy is still Volition, Destruction is still change, Deceit is still Knowledge and Sloth is still Happiness. They are all evil only in isolation, but the corrupted virtues are still virtues just twisted by despair. Silence isn’t Solidarity, Silence isn’t necessarily (always) the opposite of freedom. The right to remain silent is just as important as the right to free speech. Silence is only anti freedom when imposed on others who don’t want to. Silence can work in solidarity with freedom and become one of the same. But silence can never be solidarity, for silence is inherently individualistic. 

Which is why Silent Salt’s souljam has a tint of green on it, he is still holding hope for freedom. But it's not white like his original soul jam, because he has given up on Solidarity. Also Silent Salts souljam has the most drastic color change from the other virtues showing how drastic his corruption was compared to the others. Its also perfect how he litterally transforms from white to black, showing which side of his worldview he sees himself as.

Silent Salt cookie is the biggest supporter of the very same system that causes corruption: Silence, Objectification, Despair, all of his flaws reflect the fundamental flaws in their world, the same issues that cause the Beasts and Dark Enchantress to corrupt. Which is why it's so fitting how SM and DE are his biggest opps aside from himself, and why he hates himself so bad, because without silence, the world would be better off. He swears to destroy the darkness of the world and he too is tainted with that darkness. 

Both White Lily, Silent Salt’s suicidal tendencies steam from a shared struggle with self hatred and the cruelty of the world. But White Lily learned to have hope for both the world and herself, she had hope that she would survive and even if she never got to see the world she fought for again, she found the courage to face her destiny and guide the world to freedom. She learned doesn’t need to control or take responsibility for the cruelty of the world, but only control of herself and her own actions. 

Silent Salt however never had hope for himself, because he can’t understand or view himself as a person. He is either a hero of light or a demon of darkness and while he saw hope in protecting the world, he found a greater will to silence the darkness that was himself and the beasts. His sacrifice didn’t save him, it only further destroyed everything he ever stood for in another timeline, endangering the world once more. For he will take responsibility for all the darkness and cruelty of the world alone.

That's why White Lily and Silent Salt death have such different tones associated with them. White Lily died selflessly, she sacrificed her own freedom for the freedom of the world. Silent Salt died selfishly, for he silenced the Beasts for his own selfish desires and set the world on a path to silence as well.

Lack of Understanding 

Another case of irony is that the Kala Namak knights understand solidarity much better than Silent Salt himself. It's both sad and kind of amusing how deep Silent salt’s guilt towards his knights is. He is so guilty over their demise that he believes the very lie that he has betrayed them, even when they are literally bowing down to him, celebrating his return he still believes they resent him. Bringing up Salt Cellar cookie’s “sacrifice isn’t Solidarity" A lesson that Silent Salt has never truly known and another example of him never understanding true Solidarity in the first place. 

Which makes it so heartwarming that when he begs for forgiveness they explain how they never resented him in the first place, because he never betrayed them. Really the only person Silent Salt had betrayed at that point was himself and his own values. So It's pretty neat in ep 15 watching him fight in battle with his knights in solidarity one last time. He has redeemed himself in solitary to White Lily, his knights and to a degree the world. But He has betrayed the Beast in solidarity, himself and and therefore the world as well. Silent Salt represents judgement, but he judges without fully understanding. Which is one of the key dangers of silence and why he never truly redeemed himself in the end.

I honestly like that Silent salt's redemption arc isn't linear/finished in Act 1. Because just like with the other Beasts, why would he redeem himself? He has no reason to want to understand the Beast and every reason to take out anger on them. It also shows how just like how White Lily is no less a Hero as the other Ancients, Silent Salt is no less a 'Villain'. Just like how the Ancients became the greatest victims to Lily’s (DEC) selfishness, the Beast became the biggest victims to Silent Salt’s. And while they all are ultimately victims to the terrible rules of their world, their actions still have consequences, for that is the price of freedom. (although I do really hope the all of the Beast still get some kind of redemption arc in Act 2, they seem to be hinting at them being a focus of this story, but we’ll have to wait and see) 

Ironic Solidarity 

What a lot of people who try to criticise Silent Salt’s behaviour towards the Beasts overlook is that Silent Salt sees himself as no better than the other Beasts. And that's exactly why his relationship with them is so terrible, because his relationship with himself is terrible. Silent Salt was able to overlook the objectification and suffering of the emissaries because he assumed that they were just as content as he was with their purpose. That their goals were the same despite their differences. He was able to demonize and seal the beast because he was just as angry and spiteful towards them as he was towards himself for corruption. He was so eager to kill them off believing the world would be better off without them because he believes the world will be better off without him.

Silent Salts hatred and vitriol towards the Beasts is rooted in his own self hatred and ‘dehumanisation’. It's why he must go down with him, it's why he must corrupt and die alongside them in an ironic twist of solidarity. 

It's why his fate is so fitting. It is the opposite of triumphant; it's dreadful because he is unintentionally creating despair. To a degree Shadow Milk is right to prevent the sealing of the Beasts because sealing them away and splitting the virtues causes so much despair in the future. Him becoming Shadow Milk's puppet is also fitting because both ultimately reflect the same thing: objectification. Shadow Milk refuses to see himself as a person, but a God. Silent Salt refuses to see himself as a person, but in a way also a divine force. Judgement, silence is judgement who is he to judge if not the Lord commander, or now the Commander of Silence. The title Commander of Silence is a fun oxymoron. “Command” “Silence.”   

Both Silent Salt and Shadow Milk deny freedom from the world as a result of their own self loathing. They should kiss and make out need to learn to understand eachother in solidarity if there is any hope for them

My favorite Beast and Favorite Ancient. 

I keep bringing this up in my rambles but looking back, I can understand why I thought White Lily and Pure Vanilla should have swapped virtues. White Lily is very similar to Shadow Milk as a character and equally, Pure Vanilla is very similar to Silent Salt. Even though these characters have never interacted they share so many themes and traits between them. If White Lily is to succeed where Shadow Milk fails then perhaps Pure Vanilla can succeed where Silent Salt does. 

Both of them end Act 1 gaining hope but failing to understand. 

Perhaps Pure Vanilla can be the one to break the cycle of hope and despair, to realize the truth of the world. That cookies are not objects, they are not inherently good but not inherently evil. They are people, who deserve freedom and prosperity and should always hold out hope for a better world through solidarity and understanding. 

The moral of the Story:

LOVE YOURSELF STUPIDS!!!!!!!

Why I love Silent Salt cookie: 

I think the best way someone can love a character is to be able to slander the hell out of them but still wish for them to get better. To acknowledge and appreciate their flaws while also adoring how awesome they are. 

I have seen a few different stories tackle the discussion of: “Is it moral for the hero to kill?” This is a very controversial point of discussion, one that causes me to find myself in a lot of debates in the Sonic IDW fandom in particular (also Steven Universe and ATLA). I believe Silent Salt cookie is the best character who represents the argument of “heroes shouldn’t kill”. Because silencing your enemies denies them freedom, and who gives one the judgement of whether a person deserves freedom or not. This is not to say that evil people should not be punished, far from that, but you can’t view the world through a black in white lens for nothing will ever get better. (This is literally an argument I have got into so many times regarding the Sonic idw comics OMG!) 

I feel like fans suffer from the very same black and white morality that Silent Salt’s story is trying to break down. No Silent Salt cookie isn’t better than the other beasts; he is not the “only good one”. No Silent Salt cookie is not solely responsible for the corruption of the Beasts in fact only the Beasts can be blamed for their own actions (not feelings). But I am, in no way saying Silent Salt deserves the torment he is put through, in fact the opposite. I want my boy to heal and get better, to learn to love himself as much as he loves the world. 

I hope at the end he gets to binge all 9 seasons of my little pony FiM and ride into the moon rise with his princess luna action figure and cuddle with his Faerie husband and beloved child (Nox Black Salt). 

Finally this analysis is done! I had a blast working on it and it took me forever because I love this guy so much. After I make some Lunar Quartet fanart, I also want to make more content for the other Beasts, Ancients and secondary characters.