Robin Brooks

in case you've never seen it, this is Roger Ebert on The Mummy

you can like women and be a trans woman
you can have no bottom dysphoria and be a trans woman
you can be awful at fighting games and be a trans woman

a drawing of Dani and Mira that I'm working on, just started inking

That's probably enough Fallout talk for today, time to remember how to draw my girls

Rattling off the crimes of the Legion and NCR, he puts "high taxes" on the same list as expansionism and slavery, then insists Lucy will understand later. He's a conservative dad with the technology to *force* people to live according to his imagined ideal past. Horrifying.

LOVE that when Lucy confronts him again, he stops to talk about All Quiet On the Western Front. He twists the message of a book about the horror and pointlessness of war to justify his dismissal of any surface civilization. We're back at Edward Sallow's terrible understanding of Hegel.

Hank MacLean is such a fantastic villain, in no small part due to Kyle MacLachlan knocking it out of the park as usual. A monstrous man masked behind a pleasant smile and friendly delivery of callous disregard for human life.

I do think the show is being pretty soft on the NCR. Especially with Max getting cheers for showing up in Freeside in NCR armor. Freeside was pretty divided on the NCR when they were a going concern in the Mojave. But I guess if you're living next to a buncha Deathclaws, here to kill them is welcome

Bringing House back was making me salty at first, but honestly, if the show wants to make Capitalism one of its greater antagonists; there's no more perfect avatar of that than one Robert House. The body-double/A.I. brain-scan backup works for me as justification, and Justin Theroux is doing great.

It's also exactly what multiple characters in FNV predicted for the Legion! That they would collapse into infighting right after their singular leader was out of the picture.

"They made the Legion a joke!" Buddy, the Legion was ALWAYS kind of a joke. They're post apocalyptic fascist LARPers.

Saw some people being upset about the Legion squabbling over succession for years with two tiny camps and two would-be Caesars sitting 100 yards from each other, but honestly? Perfect. One in the east, one in the west, neither holding nearly the power of their empire at its height? That's Rome, baby

I was worried from that first glimpse of New Vegas at the end of season 1 that s2 would absolutely infuriate me, but honestly? I think it's treatment of NV is... okay. Offing the Kings is... hrrrrn. But tattered NCR rangers keeping up a hopeless fight? Alright.

If they hadn't run into that group of ghoul children, Harkness was absolutely going to win Maximus over, because Quintus is too smug to realize he's lost Maximus' loyalty already.

Max just wants to do good, and he sees before most others that no wing of the BoS will let him do that.

But Maximus is suggesting it with no small hint of *bitterness*. Quintus has shattered Maximus' belief in the goodness of the Brotherhood, and he's suggesting what seems like the brick-shit simple, evil answer Quintus accepts in so many other circumstances.

And Maximus is so great; in over his head, self-admittedly not a planner, but still a little smarter than everyone gives him credit for. When he suggests killing Harkness, Quintus reads it as a dumb suggestion from a soldier who can't think of another answer.

And he doesn't say it, he just stares, dead eyed, at one of many moments where he gave up a part of himself.

This is right after Lucy, who he had abused and brutalized, showed him compassion. She hasn't given up being good, and he did. And as much as he wants to deny it, he hates himself for it.

Coop asking the director why can't he arrest the bad guy like he did in all the other films, contrasted with the next episode as the Ghoul quietly watches the final version where he went ahead with the script and shot him--

The flip is though: love these characters! Lucy and the Ghoul's dynamic is great. Entertaining on the face of it, but as you learn more about Coop you realize that Lucy reminds him of who he used to be, and he needs to destroy that kindness and hope to confirm that he was right to bury it in himself

And when the flashback storyline moves to him and Barb making up as he convinces her to do the right thing, that twist *untwists* to suit that personal story. It's personally dramatic, but also an annoying jerking around of the world and larger themes of the setting.

I think this also explains the Vault Tec bomb twist and untwist: it was never about the world or the themes, it was about Coop and his personal drama/storyline. "Vault Tec are evil and going to drop the bomb *themselves*" is the *most* dramatic thing for Coop's story.

And I don't think that's what the show is saying, given how Bud's Buds are also a bunch of idiots who die for no reason but their own stupidity. Even the people who think they're destined to rule are fucking idiots (see: the status of the real world United States)

There's a post (I of course cannot find again) that talked about how the wastelanders are all either monsters or jokes. And they're not wrong, that is pretty much the case. But they then extrapolated that to the show saying that the masses are dumb sheep that need to be ruled by their betters.

I think most of my issues all tie in to a central thing about the show: it is laser focused on its core cast and their character arcs/drama. This gives us some great characters and dynamics, but the world and side characters suffer for it.

She thinks the best thing to do with the key to infinite energy is to give it to the *President of the United States*

What a perfect moron. Of course the Enclave would want to use the brainwashing gizmos to make everyone into such useful, non-threatening idiots as her.

I think the show is imperfect, but there are times when its message is coherent, and even sharp. And one of those is Rep. Welch. She's a Liberal. Capital L. She knows there's awful things happening, but she somehow still has faith in American politics and politicians as the answer.

I was already thinking about all that before getting back to episode 8 where the Ghoul even calls it out: "I bet wearing that outfit makes you feel like a big man, now don't it?"

Wow, the sci-fi toy is also there to say something? Writing!

Once Maximus has the armor, it not only gives him physical power, but power over Thaddeus, to enact all the same shitty things that were done to him on someone else. One of Maximus' first good decisions is giving up the fusion core, refusing to hurt people to regain his masculine image and power.

The BoS return is annoying, but they're doing something interesting with them. They're bad guys, and the show knows it. The symbolism of Power Armor is back? The armor is cool and intimidating and all that, but it is repeatedly shown to be a shroud of masculinity and power coveted by petty men.

More Falloutposting: I rewatched S1 of the show after S2 ended, and while I still have issues with it (looking at you Episode 8 twist) I think overall the show has a lot going for it. Great visual design and the *vibe* is spot on.

Danse being synth is a pretty decent twist; I only wish the option to convince Maxson to let him live didn't exist. It weakens the story imo