Stumptown, Autobot psychiatry

[enemyofperfect]

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Much fanfic, as usual: a bit more Batfamily to start, and then suddenly Transformers.

In terms of DC Comics, Second Generation ended up not being my thing, but I did enjoy lowflyingfruit's Without Question, in which Dick is doing everything Bruce tells him to do and it's really weird.

Also amazing:  InsaneTrollLogic's Two Dead Birds, in which Jason Todd gets sent back to the most homicidal point in his personal history and does his best to steer things in a slightly better direction, and the much shorter The Talk by the same author, which features a Batfamily that's 80% asexual and 20% Dick Grayson, it's adorable.

Then I decided to go see what Neery's written since the last time I checked, and found Sequence Break, which is fantastic Optimus/Megatron corrupt-politicians-made-them-do-it with all the angst you could ask for followed by a hopeful ending. So that was amazing!

And it made me want more Transformers fic, so I browsed around for a while, first reading a bit of Whirl accidentally making friends by picking the right fight (Commissions by Authorticity; content note for one mech trying to slip something in another mech's drink) and then an intensely warned-for fic featuring Rung and an amorous sparkeater (Synchronicity by EatYourSparkOut, mind the tags!), at which point I promptly fell in love with the idea of this little robot psychiatrist with self-esteem issues.

So right now I'm working my way through an amazing series by DesdemonaKaylose and neveralarch where Megatron has a long-standing crush on Rung, because how could I resist? It's kind of a loose collection of AUs, with one main throughline but also a couple of offshoots and one-shots here and there along the way.  It's also introducing me to some fascinating aspects of Transformer canon I hadn't encountered before in fanfic, like fucking empurata, oh my gosh.  That's a genuinely creative -- as well as horrifying -- bit of worldbuilding.  For that matter, on a storytelling level, I kind of love the entire awful Functionist regime -- it's this particular sort of oppression that you can kind of map to things humans get up to in our various societies, but that's also very much about the fact that these are giant robots who turn into things.

But as for the series itself, wow.  I feel like I should give some kind of content note for the way a lot of the stories portray Rung as kind of... literally having no self-worth outside his ability to help others, which is going to be a plus for some readers and a huge minus for others.  But yeah, the first installment, The Servant Has No Such Ambitions, definitely remains one of my favorites, so that's a good place to start if you're curious about the whole concept. I also really love These Dreams of You, which comes several stories into an iteration where Rung is Megatron's chief medical officer and they and Starscream are all fragging, and offers a wonderful take on a very Transformers-specific style of dysphoria.  And now I'm all the way to the final fic that's been published, Castle in the Sand, which takes place in an timeline where they've actually brokered a peace, and it's still got all that beautiful angst and hurt/comfort, but it also makes me laugh. Also I seem to have gotten really fond of Deadlock somewhere along the way?

Anyway, if it isn't clear, I've been enjoying my newest secondhand fannish obsession very much.

Also, I very happily read the fifth chapter -- which is also the last one before a promised slashy epilogue! -- of violsva's So Foul and Fair a Day, which I first mentioned last week.

WATCHED

Stumptown spoilers through episode 1x09, "Dex Education":

I'm not really sorry that Dex didn't sleep with Liz, because that would probably have played into some unfortunate stereotypes about bisexuals, but I admit that a little part of me is sorry, because I do enjoy seeing female characters get to be disasters.

But I love that Ansel wants his own place and has been doing his homework about how to get one! And I love that Sue Lynn gave Dex advice on straightening out her life a little bit and she actually took it! And I feel like Miles' reaction when he thought Dex had slept with someone else was really refreshing: he was hurt, and he couldn't talk himself out of being hurt no matter how hard he clearly tried, but his reaction was first to suggest they keep things professional, rather than put expectations on Dex that she'd never agreed to uphold -- and then to talk to her, just in case maybe they wouldn't be so unwelcome after all. As a jealousy storyline, that's just so nice to see!

Also I love how hilariously eager Kara always is to hear the latest scoop on his love life. Kara is fantastic. And not bad at giving advice!

As for Liz's big parting speech to Grey... well, I really hope the show doesn't believe her, I guess is my take on that. Surely there exist mature adults who could accept that Grey has a close friend who is also a woman he slept with once without feeling inherently threatened by that friendship. The way Liz decided to deal with her insecurity shows that she isn't one of them.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel spoilers through episode 2x03, "The Punishment Room":

There have been a few flickers of emotional maturity from Joel this season, it's very disorienting! Apart from that, I continue to love Susie just for existing, and I'm kind of... vastly perturbed by Rose's defeated acquiescence to leaving behind her dog and returning to New York, only to gratefully receive a few morsels of potential happiness from her husband. Is the show doing something with that, what on earth was that? I can't hate Abe -- he reminds me too much of my mother, frankly, which I'm allowed to say, because he reminds her of her too -- but wow, do I hope they're doing something with that. That was so uncomfortable.