Rants and shitposts by yours truly

Yes, he was written as comedic relief, yes he does fall into some sterotypes

But what the fuck do you mean Michael J Caboose gets to be a main character and get treated as his own person and has agency in the plot and go through a character arc and is 3-dimensional and gets to be a badass?

How the fuck did an internet dudebro comedy where they casually say the R-word succeed while the rest of Hollywood fumbles over the idea of "is an actual person"

Cancel the reminders, I've finished my meme.

(debated with myself on whether to leave is as four separate pictures or not. also yes, I redid the star field because editing the other way was just so much. Blanks ↴)

there's just so much to live for!! 🐯

1. We are inextricable from one another. What happened forever combined us, like genetic material passing down the line.

2. What happened wasn't fair to either of us.

3. We hurt each other more than anyone in the cosmos could hurt each other, and it wasn't our fault, but it still happened, and we can't make the fact that it happened go away, no matter how much context and intellectualizing we throw at it.

4. We could have been great. We could have been perfect. We could have been more than the sum of our parts and sometbing divine and magical. Epsilon almost tasted what it meant to have a connection of trust. Washington almost had a taste of what it means to feel human. Washington almost tasted what it meant to have a connection of trust. Epsilon almost felt human.

5. We can't talk about it. No words in any language describe what happened. Trying to talk about it is anathema to our healing and growth as people.

6. We understand one another more than anyone ever will. We can't be together. We never will. It's sad. It's tragic. It's awful. I see myself when I look at you and you see yourself when you look at me and if we ever acknowledge this--

The dam will break. And neither of us are people that can afford the dam to break. It would he catastrophic. We made ourselves into Atlas and we can never reconcile this but sometimes, in the smallest moment, in the barest glance of a smile of context, we can find solace in the fact that we both understand, and we understand each other, and we Know.

hi @banamine-bananime I didn't want to rb the post these tags are on since it's not mine, but I NEED to talk about how important it was for the bgc to forgive wash no questions asked at the end of s8 for a minute.

the washed hands interview, in conjunction with wash's speech to the chairman, along with what we see of wash throughout the series, all shows us that he is someone who has been repeatedly punished throughout his life for doing the right thing. whether it was standing up to his childhood bully, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers, or putting an end to an experimental military program gone wrong, and stopping the mindless killing machine his former friend had been turned into because of said program—he always ended up with the short end of the stick. he was supposed to be the hero! the guy who was brave enough to do what no one else would! but instead, all he was ever seen as was the crazy guy with violent anger issues who couldn't let things go and ruined everything because of it. he didn't stand up to his bully, he brutally attacked a classmate unprovoked and caused him to lose vision in one eye. he didn't save a platoon of soldiers, he disobeyed orders and attacked his CO. he didn't put an end to a corrupt military program and save his friend and former teammate, he destroyed government property and hindered a federal investigation.

wash in s8 is a man who never wanted to be a villain, but if no one would see him as the hero, what other choice did he have? the reds and blues answered by showing wash that there was a third option that he had never considered before: do neither, just give up and go home. who do you think they are? the master chief? who gives a crap about any of that savior of humanity garbage when they could stand around bickering about the shitty box canyon they're stuck it? or daydream about picking up chick's with a tank? or constantly blow up their brand new vehicles? the possibilities are endless!

wash knows people, he intimately understands people, and he has mastered the ability to read between the lines to weaponize people's perceptions against them. when people think that you're just some silly little guy they let things slip that they would never say around anyone else, and while any other person might forget what you said—wash won't. wash will remember.

wash skillfully sweet talks his way straight into your heart with his sociable nature and genuine care and earnesty, and it's only when he's got a pistol pressed against your head or your face smashed into a mirror that you realize just how much you fucked up. you shouldn't have underestimated him and what he's capable of, you shouldn't have written him off.

in that moment you realize never understood wash—in fact you never knew anything about him at all, all you know is what he let you see. how much of what you know is real? how much of it is fake?

It's also strategic. He's *not* a rookie, but the others perceive him that way bc of PFL elitism (like the man was a corporal who has some pretty intense combat experience....) and it comes across like wash let's them perceive him that way. He acts gullible (and is sometimes, but anyone who has BEEN a gullible person will tell you, in their jaded later years, how easy it is to weaponize the perception of gullibility) to get information. People underestimate wash. His entire fighting style is representative of this-- he's a jack of all trades. He flies under the radar. He doesn't go in with pomp and circumstance, he gets the job done and you look around and realize it's been done. He's good at hiding, at getting your attention elsewhere, at showing up when you don't expect it because you weren't paying attention.

Reminder that Wash was originally intended to be the lockpick on the Sarcophagus heist. There were a lot of Freelancers going on that mission- apparently, all of them but South- and Wash was the one chosen to take York’s place as lockpick.

This goes back to my continuing theme of playing Wash’s strength as adaptability. This is why he was so high on the leaderboard: everyone had a specialty, and they were good at it, but Wash was a jack of all trades, who picked things up quickly and then only kept getting better. Someone who can do that where others can’t- South had trouble keeping a stealth mission stealthy; Maine doesn’t do subtle; Wyoming can’t do close combat, etc- would of course be near the top of the leaderboard and stay there because while everyone else’s place depends on how well they do their specialty, Wash’s place depends on how well he picks up their specialties- how well he picks up their slack.

And I think that adaptability comes out a lot within his role in the series, too: he has played the outsider, the villain, the ally, the bridge, the team leader, and most recently, the army commander. He has been the team baby and the team dad. He’s been snarky and cynical and three thousand percent done, but he’s also been naive and genuine and idealist, and he’s been hopeful and earnest and jaded.