#Transformative Learning Experience | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silverwhittlingknife · 1 year

Note

Has Tim ever put Dick on a pedestal?

100% yes! This is basically Tim's backstory IMO. Prior to meeting Dick in Lonely Place of Dying, Tim's a kid who's got a distant, idealized, made-for-TV vision of Dick and Bruce - mostly Dick - and he sets out on a quest based entirely around that misperception.

Aaaand then he immediately crashes headfirst into reality, because the Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne he remembers from his childhood memories and daydreams are like this:

But it turns out that the actual real-life human people are a bit more, uh, cranky than Tim's glossy vision - things are tense and neither of them are super-happy to meet Tim:

And Tim has to rethink a bunch of his mistaken deductions as it slowly dawns on him that - far from being a plucky team - Dick and Bruce are actually not getting along at all:

And so Tim has to realize his whole plan of "Dick has to be Robin again!!! That will fix everything!!! :)))))" was actually wrong, and based on a misunderstanding of Bruce and Dick's relationship. And having realized he was wrong, he immediately sets about trying to figure out what he’s failed to understand in the most intrusive way possible—by asking lots of nosy questions!

Actually-meeting-Dick is basically the end of Tim’s super-idealized vision of Dick. It's not a vision that can survive contact with an actual human being who's snapping at you. And kid!Tim is (I love him but) extremely pushy and annoying, and Dick's a prickly young adult who is not above getting annoyed, which means Dick snaps at him pretty regularly.

But Tim does continue to admire him.

So for their various interactions after Lonely Place of Dying, IMO "does Tim have Dick on a pedestal" is kind of a judgment call based on your assessment of Dick's relative strengths/virtues. What's unambiguous: Tim has a consistently higher opinion of Dick than Dick does of Dick, and they argue about it a lot.

I had way too many thoughts about this, so below the cut:

Comics where Dick and Tim have conversations along the lines of Dick: "I suck and I'm failing at everything." Tim: "That's not true!! Actually you're great and you're succeeding at the thing you think you're failing at!!"

So who's right - Dick or Tim?

Dick and Tim's high opinions/expectations of each other: the plusses and minuses

Comic examples

Here are a couple different variations on Tim thinking that Dick is great (often when Dick's less sure):

in Showcase, Tim thinks that Dick’s a way better teammate than Azrael, even as Dick’s thinking himself as a failure who let the Titans down;

in Prodigal, Dick tells Tim a story about confronting Two-Face which to Dick symbolizes a moment of great failure and which Tim insists was a no-win situation where Dick did the best he could;

also in Prodigal, Dick’s despairing over how badly he thinks their encounter with Killer Croc went and meanwhile Tim thinks it went fine (after all, Dick listened to him and called an ambulance instead of beating up Croc!), and Tim tells Dick to lighten up and Dick talks about how he’s a failure;

in Nightwing 6, Dick thinks he’s doing badly in Blüdhaven and he’s self-conscious about it and paranoid about what Tim might tell Bruce, and Tim insists that the fact that Dick’s being targeted means he’s succeeding and getting close instead of failing, and Dick retorts that this won’t be comforting if he winds up dead because getting close just isn’t good enough;

also in Nightwing 6, Tim thinks Dick was a better Robin than Tim is, and Dick thinks he wasn’t that great and that Tim’s better;

post-Last Laugh, Tim’s insistent that Dick's being too hard on himself about attacking the Joker whereas Dick's really haunted by the experience and confides that it feels like he's discovered a terrible dark side of himself;

way later in Nightwing 110, Tim’s seeking Dick out and Dick’s trying to avoid him because he thinks he’s a bad person who’d be bad for Tim;

in BW: Murderer, Tim doesn’t trust Bruce absolutely, but in Red Robin, he does trust Dick absolutely (or at least, more than Tim trusts himself);

etc. etc. etc.

Who's right: Dick or Tim?

So, is Tim being too easy on Dick and looking at him with rose-colored glasses, and Dick’s harsher view of himself is the correct one; or is Dick a perfectionist who’s being too hard on himself, and Tim’s the one who’s actually seeing Dick’s strengths more clearly?

I don’t think the comics really commit one way or another! These are moments of multiple-perspectives, where we notice that Tim has one attitude and Dick has another attitude and that tells us things about the characters, not moments that are meant to resolve to a simplistic “one person is Right and one person is Wrong.” I think often you could argue that they're both right? So, like, if you wanted to take the approach of, "Tim's idolizing him but he's not actually as great as Tim thinks," I don't think the comics precisely contradict that interpretation.

... THAT SAID, look, I am a Dick Grayson fan at heart, and I tend to lean toward “Dick’s being too hard on himself.”

Tim’s not oblivious to Dick’s flaws—he immediately figures out, for example, that Dick’s gonna attack the Joker, and rushes off to stop him; he just isn’t as judgmental about this moment as Dick is, and he doesn’t think it makes Dick an awful person forever. The point is (Tim says later, practical-minded) that it was made right, and Dick shouldn’t beat himself up about it. In Prodigal, Tim’s not unaware that their fight with Croc went badly; he’s just focused on how Dick’s morals and teamwork-centric attitude feel right to him in a way that Azrael’s didn’t, and look, Tim didn’t get shot even though he got shot at, and isn’t that the important thing? Tim gets caught in the same ambush that Dick does in Nightwing 6; he just takes the glass-half-full attitude toward it while Dick takes the glass-half-empty attitude. And so on.

Tim admires Dick, looks up to him, trusts him, interprets his flaws generously, and doesn’t think he’s a failure. And... this isn't quite in the comics, but it doesn't contradict them: I like to imagine Dick feeling like he's on a pedestal, and feeling kinda uncomfortable with Tim's admiration when he's forced to realize it exists, and feeling like he doesn't deserve it, and sometimes subconsciously braced for the other shoe to drop, convinced that Tim can't possibly really think this forever, that he's deluded somehow, and that eventually Tim will realize who Dick really is and get disillusioned and leave.

And I tend to think of Dick having this problem a bit with everyone in his life who thinks highly of him, but especially with Tim, because he doesn't feel like Tim's ever needed him or that he's done anything worth Tim's admiration. I feel like Dick - despite some insecurities - does know his own worth as a team leader, and he knows he was a good partner to Bruce, and he understands when he's helping people who are clearly floundering, like Damian and Rose. But all he's ever done for Tim is...hang out, and be nice. And he doesn't think Tim ever needed fixing or saving, and he vastly underestimates both the value of his own friendship in general and how much it's meant to Tim in particular. Not all the time, because later in their relationship when they've known each other for years I do think Dick does feel a bit more secure in that friendship and entitled to make demands based on it (and vice versa, for Tim). But I do imagine Dick periodically feeling like Tim lets him off the hook too easily, and thinks more highly of him than he should, and alternating between being grateful for it and uncomfortable with it.

But I would argue that Dick does deserve Tim’s admiration!

Look, Dick's not a perfect person - no one is. He does screw up sometimes, and sometimes he's petty or jealous, and sometimes his temper gets the better of him. But he is pretty great! He's brave and thoughtful and kind and generous and caring. He takes his own grief and his own suffering and devotes himself to helping other people. And Tim sees that. Tim watches an orphaned kid crying on stage, and has nightmares about it - and later recognizes the hero in him. Tim stops Dick from beating the Joker to death, and he holds Dick back from strangling Hugo Strange, and he talks Dick down from two separate panic attacks, and he listens to Dick monologue about his various perceived failures, and he gets yelled at a lot when Dick's annoyed with him, and his takeaway from all of that is that he believes in Dick, and trusts Dick, and thinks he's a hero.

You could see that as Tim having him on a pedestal and refusing to acknowledge the ugly reality. But I tend to see it as Tim understanding that Dick's flaws and occasional missteps don't define who he is - the fact that Dick's human doesn't make him any less of a hero. Tim can see the hero that Dick can't always see in himself.

Dick and Tim have really high opinions of each other... for better or worse

Tim's not alone in having a high opinion of Dick - Dick thinks Tim's pretty great, too! Dick repeatedly compares himself to Tim and finds himself wanting, whether he's thinking that Tim's a better partner for Bruce, or having a fear toxin nightmare where Tim's a rival who's beating him out of a job, or deciding that Tim would never have let Blockbuster die (and that he'll be better off if Dick avoids him), or musing that Tim would be a better Batman. Dick calls Tim his equal and closest ally in Red Robin; Tim thinks Dick is "the best" in his origin story and basically never changes his mind.

I think nowadays we're sometimes pretty highly-attuned to the way that high expectations can be bad or oppressive, and... I have mixed feelings about this? On the one hand, it isn't untrue! Dick and Tim's mutual high opinions of each other, and correspondingly high expectations, are not an unmixed blessing! They 100% cause problems! Dick and Tim think highly of each other, and expect a lot from each other, and sometimes they're pushy or abrupt or demanding when they could stand to be more sensitive. And the iffy side of high expectations is something I find interesting, and I do think it's solidly canon-based - you see aspects of this in several of their comic conflicts - LPoD, Graduation Day, BftC, RR, etc.

But at the same time, it's complicated! I don't think you can fully untangle the higher expectations from "they rely on each other and have a lot of faith in each other." Love and trust are different things, and Dick and Tim care a whole lot about being trusted, not just about being loved.

I also think it's important that their belief in each other is often a gift rather than an inevitability: Dick and Tim choose to see each other in positive ways. Something they both do is after they have a conflict, they'll apply on a retrospective very positive gloss to whatever just happened. So e.g. Dick starts Resurrection mad at Tim, and ends it by declaring, "I let you make the choice... because I knew you'd make the right one." Tim spends most of Red Robin 1-12 mad at Dick, and ends it by declaring that he knew Dick would catch him because Dick's always there for him. And in both cases, we-the-readers are aware that they knew no such thing! But to me, that doesn't make these declarations meaningless - it makes them more meaningful. Their faith in each other is sometimes genuinely felt, and sometimes it's something they stubbornly brute-force into existence because they want to give that gift to each other.

And I mean... Tim did make the right choice. Dick was there when it really counted. Just because it isn't the whole truth doesn't mean it's not a truth.

Now, does this positivity also put some pressure on them? Absolutely! They're both people who are very upset by failure, so they tend to reassure each other by insisting that there was no failure, could never be failure, failure is impossible, even when they know perfectly well that's not true. They praise each other's skills as a love language, when what they mean is I love you no matter what. They talk about other people's needs but don't always acknowledge each other's. And it'd probably be healthier if they said instead, "Even if you'd made the wrong choice, it'd be okay, because it's okay to make the wrong choice sometimes," or "Even if you're not always there for me, that's okay, because no one can be there for someone else all the time."

And they do not say that, because Dick and Tim are relatively well-adjusted by Batfamily standards but that is a very low bar, and at the end of the day they're still deeply messed-up perfectionists who deal with their emotional problems by punching crime in the face.

But look, they're trying. And isn't that the important thing? <3

#dick 'imposter syndrome' grayson and tim 'dick grayson stan' drake #dick grayson #tim drake #dick & tim #ask tag #i rambled for a really long time anon <3 #it's complicated because i feel like mmmm the ''pedestal'' thing is obv true in some ways #but i think it also sometimes gets used in this kinda flanderized way #where it gets extrapolated into claims like ''older!tim is shocked to learn dick experiences normal human emotions' or w/e #and obv fandom is transformative and a rich tapestry etc but for me personally #part of what i LOVE about tim's introduction is that dick is in the middle of one of his very angsty eras #so tim's burst into his life being all ''hiiiiii!!! you're the best :)))))'' when dick is at peak ''i am gloomy and depressed''#that said tim's high opinion of dick is very canon and very compelling to me <3 #tim does think dick is the greatest thing ever!#but it's more like being a stan of his rather than being a distant stranger who doesn't know him at all #it's not that tim's unaware that dick gets angry/sad/etc or that dick and tim never have fights (they do!)#it's more that unless they're actively in the middle of a fight tim admires/loves dick a lot and is determined to think well of him #so he considers all of dick's strengths What's Important About Him and all of his flaws Basically A Rounding Error If You Think About It #and he doubles-down on this when someone's questioning it (including Dick)#there is definite motivated reasoning at play in Tim's view of Dick but imo it's not quite the same as a pedestal sdfdsfds #i'm not sure there's anything that Dick could do that Tim couldn't find a way to justify in his head how it was okay /#not really Dick / not really his fault / etc. - like if Dick went on a murder spree #Tim would be there making the big This Isn't You! I Know You Won't Kill Me Because I Believe In You! speech #and like. if he was wrong then he'd be dead sdfdsf but the thing is he'd have secret doubts and be wary AND STILL #find himself ultimately making that speech / taking the risk - and ditto for Dick toward Tim #it's not that they never get mad / distrust each other and it's not impossible they'd stay bitter and suspicious for a while #but in the END they both really really WANT to trust each other

315 notes · View notes

yeesiine · 8 months

Text

Don't Just

Don't just learn, experience.

Don't just read, absorb.

Don't just change, transform.

Don't just relate, advocate.

Don't just promise, prove.

Don't just criticize, encourage.

Don't just think, ponder.

Don't just take, give.

Don't just see, feel.

Don’t just dream, do.

Don't just hear, listen.

Don't just talk, act.

Don't just tell, show.

Don't just exist, live.

#learn #experience #read #absorb #change #transform #relate #advocate #promise #prove #criticize #encourage #think #ponder #take #give #see #feel #dream #do #hear #listen #talk #act #tell #show #exist #live

19 notes · View notes

tweetsongs · 9 months

Text

brennan letting the queens get away with much more silly shit than he would've let more experienced players get away with because he knows they aren't trying to break the game with it and just want them to have a good time playing dnd for the first time....that's what this game is ABOUT babey

#just thinking of twyla transforming into random objects lol #dadq #this i think more than a lot of serious seasons shows how good a dm brennan is #when u have a table of experienced improvisers its fairly easy to get everyone onboard with the collective narrative #but to get a bunch of people who don't have experience w dnd and have comparatively less experience with narrative storytelling #to learn dnd AND make a good show at the same time #is fucking HARD yall

15 notes · View notes

transingthoseformers · 6 months

Note

Another couple of characters I kind of want to see in Earthspark are Blackarachinia and Noble/Savage from BM. Given we already have Tarantulas, I kind of want Blackarachinia to be somewhat of a mix between her BW and BM personalities or designs, with the whole aspect of her being a techno-organic, though without TFA's whole stance that she wanted to be "cured" but that she wants to be free of not being shoved into being a "Decepticon" or an "Autobot" and being tied into a conflict she doesn't care for. Conversely, I also kind of want her to have a background as being an offworlder, maybe from a distant colony world like Eukaris, in that she doesn't know of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict until it spills over or the Quintessons started conquering more worlds, especially those that have Transformer lifeforms on them. I kind of want her to be around or near the same age as the Terrans.

As for Noble, I kind of want another mutation type Transformer created by the Quintessons fooling around with the AllSpark, plus Noble hasn't gotten as much media presence since Beast Machines, and he would be a pretty interesting addition. I'm actually kind of the thought that if the Quintessons have the AllSpark, they would try to fiddle around with it, making new Transformer life but it's wrong on some level. Maybe they end up have a bunch of weird Transformers just around, maybe some Transformers who can't transform maybe Transformers who turn from one animal to another, maybe a lot of mutations here and there.

Honestly I feel like BA would be so cool in Earthspark because it'd let us possibly get into the world of mecha who've been straight across neutral the entire time, which considering what Tarantulas indicated about it being super fucking hard to be neutral will lead to interesting consequences

Out of her tfa personality I feel like the scientist route without the cure thing would lead to interesting interactions with Tarantulas as possible rival science spiders with Nightshade willing to assist either. And finding it somewhat amusing.

Her and Noble being technoorganic has gotta lead to interesting questions because the terrans to me count as somewhat technoorganic? Somewhat. Slightly.

You're right about how Noble is absolutely underrated out of the BW mecha, especially since his design would look super cool in not the beast wars style (I'm so sorry beast wars you're amazing but your animation and designs aren't)

Noble being created by the Quintessons would be interesting because ultimately speaking out of all their creations I'd say he's one of the successes

Oooo so you're suggesting we'll get monoformers (considering what I've seen I feel like that's something very possible for Earthspark, especially regarding a lot of importance being put on altmode here, it'd be a ~thing~ that ultimately I'm here for). As well as possibly situations like the cassettes where they've got alternate root modes and non humanoid altmodes? Sign me the fuck up!

#maccadam #transformers #you say wrong on some level #i say interesting #especially with the emotion being put behind altmodes in Earthspark i feel like it'd be a major deal #transformers earthspark #transformers beast wars #bw noble #bw BlackArachnia #noble would be so fucking cool #tfe tarantulas #tfe nightshade #Quintessons #it would be so cool if we got more mecha with alternative root modes (remember the cassettes count as that)#there would be so many interesting learning experiences and moments because of the importance placed on choosing an altmode #so the idea of not being able to choose one would be such a fucking thing #as would the choice to prefer your altmode over your root mode

8 notes · View notes

wayti-blog · 1 year

Quote

It's essential to keep moving, learning and evolving for as long as you're here and this world keeps spinning.

Rasheed Ogunlaru

24 notes · View notes

spacebagfullofstars · 1 year

Text

We need more interactions between Thrash and Megatron me thinks

#their relationship is so interesting to me #twitch seems to make friends with a lot of older cybertronians while thrash seems to be out there doing his own thing #he doesn't share the same sentiment about the legacy or the war as his siblings #he also mostly had only bad experiences with the decepticons #first swindle then shockwave and then megatron who puts some serious expectations on him #he thinks he wants them to fix the mess that he started and it's mighty unfair #i REALLY hope we'll learn more of thrash's thoughts on megatron and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give him a good role model #thrash malto #megatron #earthspark #transformers

24 notes · View notes

femmeidiot · 7 months

Text

maybe I need to take the good feelings and leave the bad ones behind

#Idk this weekend is feeling transformative for me and that concept of taking the good and leaving the bad behind has been mentioned a few #times and the only thing I’m struggling with is how everything feels good and I’m worried it’s gonna fall through the floor is gonna cave i #maybe one of lessons I need to learn is how to take the good experience and leave the bad anxiety of second guessing it behind #like actually just take things at face value and not assume everyone is lying to me about liking me or having a good time with me #Idk my brain is going like 500000 miles a minute

8 notes · View notes

taketwoinink · 2 years

Text

this is kind of a half-baked thought but here we go

there's this thing commonly said in the trans community of "we didn't pick our genders, this is just the way we are"

yes, this is true

however, I do want to bring attention to the idea that perhaps it isn't true 100% of the time. And for those people, whoever they may be, who maybe don't feel as if they were always trans, you're valid too in whatever gender you choose to be!

I think that saying we were born this way is how we kind of argue against transphobes and people saying that we're just confused or we don't know what we're talking about. And for so many of us, it's true! personally, yes, I feel as though I was never a woman but have always been something else but hadn't yet figured that out. (which is why I feel weird saying I discovered I was nonbinary because yes that is the true but in a way I've always been nonbinary. that's a talk for another day though)

But as I've thought about it, I've come to the conclusion that in any other timeline, when placed with the option to be a cis woman, I would choose to be nonbinary every time.

And not everyone would.

And that's okay! We're all different! Being trans/nonbinary is a struggle. It's isolating and sometimes feels hopeless and it's frankly just a lot to deal with. And everyone deals with it in different levels and different situations.

So I believe that not all trans people are born this way. AND THAT'S OKAY. They are every bit as valid as any other trans person, or any other person in general! And people who were born this way? Also valid!

Whatever reason someone may feel as if their gender switched, maybe it's trauma, maybe it's preference changing over time, maybe it's just something random and not completely understood, it doesn't matter.

I think they should be recognized and included just the same as anyone else.

-- I haven't ever actually met someone who has told me that they don't feel as if they were trans their entire life. However, if someone can change sexuality over time, then why shouldn't it be possible for someone's gender to change over time as well? I understand that there are a lot of differences in how sexuality and gender evolve, but there are also a lot of similarities.

Just something to think about.

#trans #transgender #nonbinary #genderqueer #genderfluid #agender #enby #queer #trying to tag this with all the things #because this applies to everyone #I do wonder if genderfluid people would relate to this #but I don't know and I don't want to assume anyone's experience for them #this has been sitting in my brain waiting to be transformed into words in a coherent way #I feel like I put it nicely #I hope it makes sense to you as well #and isn't offensive at all #I think part of being queer is learning to be inclusive of other people #even within our own communities and labels and microlabels #everyone has such a different experience #I know for me personally I don't relate to a lot of aro things #because I want some form of a romantic relationship in my life #or a relationship that fulfills a similar emotional role #and sometimes I don't feel that from other aros #which is okay!#we are all different #I can love my aro siblings who are different from me the same way I love those that are similar to me #and also I can love my allo siblings even though I don't understand them #I don't need to have lived in their shoes to know they're worth it as a human #and worthy of my love #and that they are so incredibly important and valuable to our community

82 notes · View notes

qualxon · 1 year

Note

Since you made a post about wanting things to draw, I’ll give you something different to draw, the legend himself Optimus Prime (any version you want)

I was going for TFP, though I think it looks a bit more like "tfp if it was 2d animated instead" lol

Still, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out!

#qualxon art #art #digital art #fanart #tfp #transformers prime #optimus prime #tfp optimus prime #qualxon answers #spodimusarts #an attempt was made #I don't think I've ever drawn him before so this was a learning experience!

14 notes · View notes

whatudottu · 1 year

Note

Given how Random’s faceplate is unlike any Transformers’ we’ve seen in the TFA universe (which is in stark contrast to Icy and Hothead, who both have faces typically of their species), I have a feeling that Random might not see himself as a Cybertronian, or at the very least, not a full Cybertronian, especially given how non-human alters aren’t unheard of for people with DID or OSDD.

Seeing as how Transformers in the Animated Continuity are shown to believe in an afterlife, which implies that they have some form of religion, my personal headcanon is that he views himself as the Cybertronian equivalent of what humans might consider a demon (‘spawn of Unicron’, perhaps? There was a planned time travel episode taking place after the Unicron Wars, after all, meaning he would’ve been canon to the TFA continuity) confined within a Transformer’s body and as such can’t utilize the “full extent” of his power.

Maybe in headspace, he uses the form of a Transformer as his “default” since it’s the most convenient and the one everyone else is used to but he's capable of taking on a wide variety of forms whenever he chooses (as a fun little reference to the original concept of Blitzwing’s character being a ‘super-Transformer’ who could shape-shift into the form of anything mechanical but couldn’t hold any form other than his vehicle mode for very long).

Demon/Unicron spawn Random is just a fascinating idea I am beaming this idea directly to my brain- probably took all that Autobot functionism and became what 'warframes are supposed to be' and is just having a fun time with it.

Whether Random is serious about eating bots or is acting on his no filter self by spurting what 'warframe predisposed' ideas so heavily propagandised by the elite, being this Unicron spawn (as opposed to Primus like the others) Random is 'what the Autobot's asked for', not being all that much discouraged with that whole war thing happening lmao. I like to think that Random's 'default' appearance is the Blitzwing body mostly because no one else is using it (as representation of themselves rather than as a tool to host), but Mr Jack O'Lanturn here is just as transformer as the other bots in their headspace and transform he does into whatever the fuck he feels like-

#ask #anonymous #blitzwing #tfa blitzwing #transformers #tfa #BETCs #bot experiment triple changers #maccadam #whether he's simply a non-cybertronian alt or fully non-bot alt may depend #probably given what his environment has been it's likely to still be mechanical #not to say an organic is off the table it's just it seems that not a lot of cybertronian time is dedicated to even learning about organics #let alone warframes who might be stuck with very specific battle education if any at all #his obsession with eating reminds me of unicron by proxy of at least one unicron being about planet eating iirc #if i recall incorrectly then woops- with dentae like random's it just seems like a waste #blitzwing's system managed to go from the sidelines to becoming a high commander so whatever random and the others have done it worked #i was watching random clips and thought for a hot sec he had a flat screen face that only jokes about biting #then i saw his face looks like a mask filled with red light and-#either or the options are fascinating to design for #*random = protogen confirmed*#*random = clown with a tearaway face confirmed*#ideas ideas ideas ough so fun

12 notes · View notes