MACHINE MAN

AARON STACK ≡ X-51 "I am the modern man — with parts made in Japan."

[optional]

BIG HERO 6 | 2014

bonus:

[z2p45-9-x-51]

the-fantastic-mister-richards​:

Reed let go of his hand and situated his labcoat, slipping into work mode effortlessly. He was always on the edge of it, anyway, even when he was doing other things. Whether it was a boon or a fault, he was always ready to leap into solving a new problem, so when one was handed to him so readily…of course he was interested. 

“How? How are you not functioning correctly?” Even as he asked, he was moving toward one of the desks he had situated on the other side of the room. He pulled a device out of it, a diagnostic tool he’d created to let him take a glimpse inside of various electronic devices without physically taking them apart, and walked back toward Aaron. “Tell me what’s happening and we’ll go from there.” 

As Aaron watched Reed putter about the lab to retrieve whatever it was he was about to retrieve, he suddenly felt anxious - nervous, too. His gaze drifted towards the front door before it returned to Reed, who was now situated in front of him once more. Aaron furrowed his brow just slightly and looked down at the tool in Reed’s hand before offering a shrug.

“I, uh. I'm not sure, exactly. My emotional regulator isn’t working. I’m... Spiraling.” Aaron frowned at his word choice and decided to cross his arms. “I’m angry a lot of the time - I become... hurtful and it’s just getting worse. I know I will eventually...” He stiffened, “I hope your little scanner can help.”

[vivienvalentino]

OLIVER JACKSON COHEN Emerald City, 2017

[cinematv]

#we love one sassy droid

[brody75]

The Terminator (1984)

[z2p45-9-x-51]

aurification​:

STATUS: open starter

Michael lifts up the Pomeranian that’s in his arms and holds them out to the other person. “I got a dog!” His rationalization for the decision is that having a pet would be easy since he has been raising his daughter on his own for the last four years without any problems. Rani is already attached to the small animal so there’s no going back on this decision.  “What should I name her?”

Aaron fixed his ruby gaze to the small animal in the ma’s arms and wrinkled his nose. “Does it even matter? You humans give your animal companions a number of moronic and incomprehensible names.” He paused a moment. “Like Deohgee...” He shuddered. “So stupid.”

[thebibliomancer]

“Isn’t this against your moral principles?”

“Yeah but in fairness: fuck her”

[cinematographysource]

Someone lived this.

[z2p45-9-x-51]

the-fantastic-mister-richards​:

When he’d purchased the lot in Star City, he’d had construction started immediately on the new building. The bones of it were up in a week and things began to fill in. His lab, of course, was the very first thing completed. He was still working to have some of his equipment moved from the Baxter Building to the new location, but he had plenty. The upper levels were all still largely empty. He hadn’t needed them yet, and he was the only one there…hopefully only temporarily, but he was keeping his hopes measured. Regardless, despite the building’s fluctuating state of completion, the lab was very much locked and not open to visitors.

The moment the doors opened and he saw a figure, Reed’s arms were already extending toward them, either to apprehend or…a handshake. He chose the latter, once he recognized the intruder. “Well, I think I’d have preferred you rang at the door but what can I do for you?” Reed hadn’t dealt with anyone else’s ‘urgent’ anything for awhile, and he was quick to jump back into it. 

Many people preferred him to use the front door and behave as if he had all the time in the world, but in most cases — he didn’t. He didn’t have time to send emails or calls or set up meetings and places with people and things. He needed results and he needed them quickly, and waiting around on stoops wasn’t going to do it for him. It was why he broke into a lot of places; he was good at it and security systems were fun to crack, even if most of them were outdated or surface-level intelligent. Smart locks weren’t really smart — go figure.

Aaron’s own hand extended the short distance to meet Reed’s, the similar nature of that small display of stretch from both was not lost on him. Maybe he’d bring up a contest on a better day. He ignored the initial comment and decided to come out with it. “I need someone to take a look inside my head. I’m not... functioning the way I should be and I need to know if it’s fixable.”

[z2p45-9-x-51]

red-she-hulk​:

“Ouch! Hurtful words, Aaron. Very hurtful.” Still, she couldn’t bite back the laughter even as she shook her head at his question. “Verbal appreciation only in the more dire of times is an acceptable offering.” She felt her energy spiking a little bit as she walked with him, like being around him reminded her of the good she could do, even with Red. It didn’t feel like she was treading so lightly to make up for her Hulk’s brazen existence. 

She considered. “I can get you in with Bruce. I think he’ll help me, if I ask him.” Whatever they were, there was too much history between them for him to really turn her away, wasn’t there? Not that she expected he would. God, she didn’t know what to expect.

“We’re both good at it. At least you don’t turn into a monster for yours.” She was feeling exposed and there was nothing to be done about it, really. It had been… hard for her, honestly. She had needed to come to Star City, and she was still hoping to get Bruce to talk with her about his research on his own Hulk so she could understand hers better. Plus, there was the sanctuary she could find here from HYDRA and M.O.D.O.K., but she was struggling. She loved Bruce Banner, and it was like a sickness. Honestly, sometimes she wished she didn’t love him. Her life would be easier if she didn’t. And working in close quarters had her feeling the pull between them again. But they had tried it so many times. He always ended up leaving her. Red had pointed out a thousand times that Bruce only loved her when he wasn’t afraid of her or himself. 

Aaron’s question was a hard one and Betty swallowed. “I don’t know,” she answered. “All my life, from the moment I met him, I wanted to be his wife. I’ve loved him uninterrupted since I was twenty-five. Now it’s… weird again. And Red… she doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like him, either.” She blew out a sad sigh. “He tears me up a lot. Even if I have always let him only to come running back.” Was that even real love? 

“Is it completely lame romcom dialogue to say that ‘I just want to be happy’?”

Aaron knew he should be so lucky that there was at least one person who cared for him. Jacosta likely did, as well, but there was only so much of him that she could take — not that he blamed her. He was volatile at best; a cantankerous old fool too broken to hold onto the few screws he had left. He was... aware of the abuse he was too quick to dole out, and regretful for the days he was forgiven. A fading mind was no excuse for the biting words, though he also knew that Betty — or Red — wouldn’t take his lip. He’d be resorted to a pile of robot parts keen on putting itself back together while Jacosta would have either walked away or try to argue some sense into him.

He supposed it was one of the reason why Betty might stick around. Sure, he was a genius, a superhero and handsome to boot — but she was one of the living few who could tolerate him. Or at least, bothered to. 

“And what if our definitions of ‘dire’ don’t align? Is it ‘dire’ if I run out of beer?” He asked, more or less to mess with her than anything. If she were serious, he supposed they could come up with some sort of list or system, or codeword even, but for now it was just fun to grind her gears as it were. “And if he doesn’t, there are other options,” though Aaron didn’t feel too confidently about that. There was the small hope that Banner or Richards could, essentially, cure him — but that desire was miniscule and at best he’d get a band-aid to cover the mess. He hoped, at least, that it was a cool band-aid.

“No, this is true,” he agreed; he wasn’t as inhibited as Red could be, not by a long shot, but Aaron did what he could to avoid and that usually included an unearthly amount of beer and leading a hermit lifestyle. It wasn’t a pissing contest, though Betty had him beat by a longshot. Her tone turned into longing and so he turned to better take in the expression. The question led his attention away from her face and down to the worn wood of the boardwalk to mull it over. Aaron saw the salt from the ocean crystallize along the wooden shards, he saw how the wood splintered in certain places where there was too much weight and how the algae crept through the cracks as the waves crashed into the pillars below. 

A flash second of image capture passed and he returned the sentiment with a hand squeeze. He too wanted to be happy.

“Only just a little bit,” Aaron offered her a twitch of a smile before he sobered. “It can’t be completely lame if everyone wants that, can it? But — it doesn’t sound like you will find that with him. Not unless something changes.” 

[matt-mercer-deactivated20231105]

The Baseline was always a scene to me that held the key to understanding K. I wasn’t sure what that key was during the preparation period of the film. In the script, the character was meant to read a small passage from Nabokov’s Pale Fire, but there wasn’t any insight as to why.

In order to better understand the meaning of the passage and to give it a personal meaning, I enlisted the help of a wonderful vocal coach named Natsuko Ohama. She suggested a technique called “Dropping In.” In this technique, you could explore the meaning of each word of the text by exhausting every conceivable context in which the word could be used.

The process is very long and repetitive, but it has a trance-inducing effect that can be very powerful and unsettling. I felt that if the technique were extrapolated into K’s experience, it could be used to penetrate his psyche. I believed we could learn through a process of psychological erosion what his true emotional state was.

I was very grateful to Denis for incorporating it into the film, because it unlocked my understanding of K, but also provided insight into the state of his mind of those who would force this burden upon him.

— Ryan Gosling from The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049, written by Tanya Lapointe 

[janeyrps]

[uuuhshiny]

[shear-in-spuh-rey-shuhn-deactiv]

ALEXANDER WELLS I, Robot

[randomlyrj]

REV-9 . Terminator: Dark Fate . 110119

[z2p45-9-x-51]

red-she-hulk​:

“What can I say?” She asked him wryly. “I’m a fucking delight.” She was deflecting, because Betty had never really known how to take compliments even if she had an ego underneath everything. What Aaron was saying to her was the kind of compliment that made her skin color. “I accept appreciation in the form of snacks or monetary donation.” She played with him, liking that little smile he had given her in spite of herself. 

“Is it something that can be repaired?” She asked. “Because there are people in this city. Brilliant people. Bruce, for one. And Reed Richards. They could have a look, maybe.” She didn’t want to ‘put him down like old yeller’. Betty had so few people left and Aaron was… important.

Swallowing at his question, she tried for a lame joke: “Moving from your woes to mine?” She asked him simply, her fingers still in his. Looking away from his face and hoping he wouldn’t do that thing where he could feel some minutiae of her body changing to tell him she was suddenly a little blue, she hummed. “Like I said… Bruce is here. And seeing him… Makes me want to hide. More often than not, the thought of seeing him triggers Red. And then he looks at her with his big sad eyes. He and I haven’t even talked about whether he’s still my husband. Or if he even wants to be.” Betty felt a tension in her throat that she ignored. “I don’t know… I can’t imagine he wants the baggage that comes with a second Hulk.”

“Oh, now, I wouldn’t go that far,” he teased back; in all honesty, she wasn’t always delightful to be around, but neither was he, and he enjoyed her presence regardless of temperament. “You drive a hard bargain,” came the retort. “It’s safe to say that verbal appreciation is completely off the table, then?”

“That is the idea.” Aaron wasn’t completely sure if it was curable or repairable in any sense, but he had to try. Richards and Banner were on his list of people to meet with, in the hopes that one of them would be able to figure it out. “I have plans to connect with both of them in the next few days. Perhaps then I’ll have some answers.”

“Conflict avoidance at its best,” he offered her a cheeky grin and shrugged; at least he could be honest about it. Betty, too, was honest. Aaron piped down and absorbed the information. His attention was on her and the shift that seemed to pass over her; he watched her features and could feel the pulse in her hand, its rhythm a giveaway. Aaron could see the smallest inclination or twitch of an expression; he could tell when they lied and when they were trying to hide. He could all but feel the change. He kept it to himself.

After her last word, Aaron stole a pause before he spoke again. “Do you want to be?” He asked and turned to look at her; his tone was uncharacteristically soft.

[wadewilson-parker]

Tony Stark - Iron Man (2018) #3