Tag: meta

followthedrums13:

damnedgallifreyan:

bazingaholmes98:

whatisyourlefteyebrowdoingdavid:

The Doctor + The Master – last and first looks.

IM CALLING IT ALREADY THE TIME LORDS WIPED THE MASTERS MEMORY AFTER THE EVENTS OF ‘END OF TIME’ BECAUSE THEY JUST KNEW THE MASTER AND THE DOCTOR HAD RECONCILED IN THE TOP RIGHT AND LEFT GIFS AND THAT SCARED THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF THEM BECAUSE THE REBEL TIME LORDS BESTIES WERE FUCKING BACK.

AND THEY KNEW THAT TOGETHER THEY COULD BURN EMPIRES.

SO THEY WIPED HIS MEMORY

SO HE WOULD FORGET THAT THEY FORGAVE EACH OTHER

THAT THEY SAVED EACH OTHER

THAT THEY REALISED THE REAL SHITS THAT KEPT FUCKING THEIR FRIENDSHIP OVER WERE ALL THE FUCKERS IN THE CITADEL.

That’s why we saw Simm the way he was in the Doctor falls. Because he was the one who forgot.

And missy is the one who remembered.

#DontmindmeIlljustcrymyselftosleep

^ I like this headcanon because his behaviour in the Doctor Falls feels so wrong to me

@bluesuitandsandshoes @decimaquodmedicus I may be adding this to my canon. XD

That’s definitely one extremely good theory and yes I think the root of all of it is that the Time Council fears what the two chief renegades of their age would do if they joined forces.  

My theory is more complex: 

–The Master went into the Timelock trying to kill Rassilon.  He failed and was apprehended.
–Rassilon imprisoned him in a sensorial deprivation chamber on Gallifrey during the Time War for 70 years (the same amount of time, coincidentally, that Missy was being “rehabilitated” by the Twelfth Doctor),  complete with the manufacture of the “Drums” sound that the Master had shaken off, as well as PARTIAL memory erasure so that should he encounter the Doctor again, the “facts” the Doctor offered would still add up.  During that time relentlessly bombarded him with information about everything the Doctor was doing at different points in the Doctor’s timeline after the Master went into the Timelock, without trying to come after and save the Master.  It culminated in information that the Doctor would at some point visit Gallifrey again…but still not go looking for the Master (events in Series Nine).  
–By the time the Master was released, and free again of the Drums and all the psychological conditioning, he was convinced (partially, at least consciously) to retract his forgiveness.
–Rassilon played him like a puppet, giving him ostensible political power, then framing him to be exiled from Gallifrey (the so-called “mutual kicking out” the Master refers to in The Doctor Falls).
–The Master stole a TARDIS and crash landed on Mondas. 
–Twelve’s obsessive preoccupation with “saving” Missy–which, out of context, to the Master, would look like brainwashing–and his obvious horror at seeing the Master again, only seem to confirm the lies Rassilon has told the Master.  

I also love how there are several Simm Master muns in this thread and despite our varied portrayals of this muse, we all agree that Series Ten Simm!Master was totally ooc.  

Source: whatisyourlefteyebrowdoingdavid

themandalorianwolf:

masterfulxrhythm:

cumonthevoid:

why did they give this line to the villain

Because they often give the villain the lines that are socially subversive but true, in order to get them past the censors. 

Which is incidentally what makes villains often far more relatable than heroes. 

Ahhhhh I feel so enlightened knowing that Joffrey was more of a compelling and right character over Robb Stark.

The falsehood that all villains are just more relatable and compelling needs to stop.

In the context of the scene, she is just trying to say whatever will get her what she wants. In reality, she’s a horrible boss and a horrible person and would throw anyone out just out of the blue.

The quality of a character is not deemed by their alignment to good or bad, hero or villain, it all just depends on how much effort the writers take, and what they are trying to do with the character. Sometimes a villain is supposed to be a philosopher, other times they are supposed to just be pure evil and Petty.

It’s not about if the character is a villain or hero, it’s about how well they are written and what purpose they were written for.

What you have done is take a brief comment I made about a highly specific example of “relatable villainy” and apply it to an entirely different example, the implications of which are also entirely different. 

if you had exercised the courtesy of reading my remark carefully, then you would know this.  

The sentence you took, from which you formed your entire forcefully sardonic rebuttal:

“Which is incidentally what makes villains often far more relatable than heroes.” 

Here, the word “often” is crucial.  

Allow me to elaborate upon my actual point.

Characters like Joffrey, or Kilgrave from Jessica Jones, or Lucifer from Supernatural, fall under a category of villain who stands for the wholly privileged morally bankrupt sadist who is more predator than prey in our society.  They are NOT a part of my argument. 

 The quality of writing, moreover, while a crucial dimension of characterization, is also tangential to the point I was making.  

On the other hand, there is a long-established precedent in media, from books to films to comics, and more, in which the villain speaks the inconvenient truths of what is wrong with society.  And it’s considered permissible because the narrative can eschew what the villain says as ridiculous or even perverse.

Sometimes this is especially insidious, as in the case with Cruella, because even though Cruella is wrong in THAT specific context/example, there is truth to the patriarchal standard of marriage sometimes being abused in favor of men’s pursuits, at the expense of women’s happiness.  

But since a “bitch” (a very weaponized gendered slur originally used by straight men) said it, we can laugh her off as “crazy.”

This is embedded in other forms of problematized social identity/issues: there is an entire history, for instance, of what is called “queercoding” in villainy, so that LGBT identities can be present in the narrative, but are less threatening to a straight cisgender audience because, again, if the message gets too threatening, the villain and the message both can be written off.

And don’t even get me started on things like “the angry black woman” whose rage is WHOLLY justified, but we laugh her off as insane and disruptive to social peace.

I AGREE with you that the idea that a person’s present behavior is “justified” by a tragic backstory MUST STOP. But perhaps before you rush to condemn a character, you might more closely examine the vantage point  from which they stand: you just might realize that you’re condemning people who can identify with the socially marginalized. You just might learn that you’re standing on the wrong side of the narrative, when it comes to real-life issues, pointing a finger hatefully.  

Please be more discerning in the future, instead of hijacking and over-generalizing the points that I make in my post to grind your axe about a particular fandom (a fandom in which I have long not been part, precisely because Game of Thrones’s writing has repeatedly fetishized problematic actions as “desirable,” such as the rape of women: so you might examine yourself from that angle, as well).    

Compassion is a virtue.  Good day.  

Source: betterthankanyebitch

((Sup! Me again(I know). I was wondering how the Master would react meeting Missy in her really early days? When she was still in the mentality of not standing with the Doctor and causing as much chaos as she could? And eventually kill the Doctor as well?))

//You know what’s funny, MY Master muse as he is NOW, after developing him from 2015 to the present?  He would probably be in Mature!Missy’s  role, which would be. Oddly fascinating. If you wanted to try out that role reversal.  

The thing is, I feel sympathy for The Doctor Falls Master and Early!Missy because their motives aren’t solely nefarious or vengeful; they’re also genuinely afraid of what the Doctor always does to their Companions, which is cause their will to bleed into that of the Companions. The Doctor is dangerous by virtue of being able (and sometimes willing) to inspire other people to die for them, or worse: to wait for them.  

Add to that my headcanon, shared by others, that the Master’s telepathic abilities are SO sensitive and intense that they have always had trouble separating self from other in the first place. So they have to shut out other people, especially other people who matter to them (read: the Doctor). 

The Master circa the Saxon age would only exacerbate early!Missy’s tendencies, especially since the gift-giving of a Cyberman Army is very Simmy in its chilling mixture of disturbingly wrong and generous. End of Time Master might be like present Master.  The Doctor Falls Master remains a strange blip on the radar of his characterization for me, but probably would react like Saxon-age Master. 

Also I do not mind your messages lol :3 ❤ 

modernwizard:

I think of the Master as a character who was emotionally permeable in childhood. All his psychic powers allowed him to feel others’ feelings and know others’ thoughts, but this knowledge came at a cost. He was so susceptible to others’ thoughts and feelings that he didn’t know his own. He never grew up with the peace and quiet and privacy of his own thoughts; he has only attained mental impregnability later, at great cost.

He names himself the Master because he has struggled for self-mastery all his life. For him, self-mastery means making others submit to his will because then there will be no foreign thoughts violating his mind. There will only be his, and he will finally have certainty, calm, and peace.

I have two observations about the Master’s use of power. First, he always tries to get power by controlling people who will then confer great power upon him. 

Second, it’s always a shortcut. I mean, have we ever seen him build up power by legitimately cultivating loyalty? No, it’s all shortcuts based on magic and fear.

His view of “power = controlling others” makes sense if he’s trying to make them SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP so that he can have the mental peace and quiet he’s always craved; Also his chronic use of shortcuts also makes sense if he’s trying to make everyone else SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP as quickly as possible.

Finally, the Master seems to have two settings: INTENSE and…off. This concept of relationships as unilateral control goes along with his fire-hose personality. I really doubt he has any experience with mutual relationships.

So his constant attempts at shortcuts and control as means to power do not make logical sense because he keeps making the same damn mistakes again and again. But they make all the emotional and characterological sense in the world.

I still, however, reserve the right to scream at him for his stubborn wrongheadedness. >:p What a dingus he is.

@natalunasans @assigned-timelord-at-birth @drabriel @fuckyeahmaster @yellowbessie @queen-of-meows @masterfulxrhythm

YES.

Thank you for articulating this in ways I have been unable! 

I feel that this is what makes him so incredibly hostile later in life to the Doctor’s return to his social orbit.  As children they were so emotionally enmeshed that when the Doctor left, this caused him almost insurmountable psychological and affective distress.  And now because of all the effort it’s taken to obtain what you call “self-mastery,” –and God, I love you reasoning for his moniker, it’s similar to my own but somehow better articulated–he (wrongly?) equates allowing the Doctor to resume friendship (or more) with him with a breech in his emotional (and psychological) impermeability, and, by extension, a dangerous state of vulnerability akin to that of his childhood.  

So he reacts, he overcompensates, with extreme antagonism, with rage and hatred, to try and mute his longing for that regained connection. 

Which is why they are essentially “best enemies,” to coin a popular DW fandom term.  

It’s tempting to characterize what you’re talking about as symptomatic of Borderline Personality Disorder, but that’s always tricky and has ableist pitfalls, but what you describe as “intense or off” is connected to an unstable sense of self versus other. 

“His view of “power = controlling others” makes sense if he’s trying to make them SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP so that he can have the mental peace and quiet he’s always craved; Also his chronic use of shortcuts also makes sense if he’s trying to make everyone else SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP as quickly as possible.“ <–this I’ve already covered in trying to explain to other people why exactly the Drums are more than just “a noise that made him cray cray.”  

And I guess he’s a dingus  but.  If I cease to feel sympathy and compassion for him then I’ll cease to be able to write him adequately. 

oncomingstvrm:

this is in reply to @masterfulxrhythm‘s post ( here ) about some things we’ve all probably noticed about Doctor Who but have swept under the rug. Putting under a read more because it’s probably going to be looooooong.

Keep reading

I agree with so much of this; the only thing I’d nitpick is the  definition of “insanity” with respect to the Master.  I think he’s mentally ill, yes, but that’s a separate dimension of being from moral alignment and it’s important that we never conflate “crazy” with “evil.” 

That aside, I do actually think that what the Master/Missy does is evil; they’re not off the hook just because the Doctor is ALSO capable of evil.  For me it’s more that people forget, an astonishing amount of the time, that the Doctor is a compelling character BECAUSE they’re flawed, and are quick to relegate the Master and Doctor to opposite ends of the moral spectrum when the difference between them is only that the Doctor’s penchant to do wrong is based on a belief that “they know best” for everyone involved, to a pathological extent, and sometimes this breeds tremendous compassion and tremendous heroism, but other times this breeds Timelord Victorious and Savior Complex: in fact to an extent the Master is the PRODUCT of the Doctor’s type of corruption, a monster of the Doctor’s own making, and it’s unfair to me that people fail to notice this. 

  The Master chooses to kill people with self-service and the Doctor with the presumption to fix things: both of them are, to a fault, manipulative, and both of them believe that they have the right of gods to interfere with other lives. The Doctor is capable of turning their kindness to a positive end more often than the Master (cruelty is just cruelty after all).  So the narrative writes the Doctor as the hero.  But what the Doctor really is, is the protagonist. And a protagonist is not a hero just as an antagonist is not a villain: the protagonist simply is the person around whom the story centers.  

And for what it’s worth, to Doctor muns out there: the Doctor is moving the RIGHT DIRECTION now, from mid-Twelve to Thirteen, in terms of doing better by other people.  But really, so is the Master, from Simm to Missy (and I argue, were Simm Master placed in the correct circumstances, he would have exhibited the contrition that Missy did).

  Honestly it’s also a matter of defining what makes “goodness” and “evil,” as Missy astutely indicates to Twelve, in citing that his idea of goodness is “not universal.”  

Crucial muse development questions; 9, 10, 14

how many friends does your character want?

Koschei has never needed many friends; despite his exhibitionistic desire for as many acolytes as he can get, these aren’t the same as friends, and it’s even been to his own personal detriment that he prefers substance to numbers.  He’s one to fixate on individual interests–including people–with a dangerous myopia.  Even so, he could use a few more friends beyond the Doctor and, arguably, the Rani.  Unfortunately even in school, the Deca considered him Theta Sigma’s toady more than his own autonomous entity.  

what would your character make a scene in public about?

What WOULDN’T he make a scene in public about, LMAO.  If I had to narrow it down to specific triggers, probably the desire for external validation that he is right and has merit, which…kind of magnifies itself pathologically into this narcissistic hunger for endless praise.  He is actually quite dependent on others, without realizing it, in this way: he needs to make an ostentatious  display of his victories, and he needs to publicly humiliate his enemies. 

how does the image your character tries to project differ from the image they actually project?

Vastly, surprisingly enough.  Behind every superiority complex is an anxiety about inferiority, and the need to abundantly overcompensate.  Despite an appearance of extraversion–particularly in the Simm face–the Master is extremely self-conscious and shy about deeply felt emotions.  You won’t see that shyness, ever, unless you are someone he trusts and respects (people of whom he can count on his hand) who catches him off-guard with sincere praise.  But then he will be deeply bashful.  Koschei was actually always far shier and more reserved than Theta Sigma, in school.  His pretense of cavalierness is also false: he is extremely meticulous and methodical.  His pretense of worldliness? Also false. He can be extremely, childishly naive.  This doesn’t mean he’s not an experienced adult, but his lapses in judgment can be astonishing.  When he pretends to despise someone? Usually that’s the product of jealousy or anger toward someone he truly cares for.  His disdain for compassion?  False also, though only in special cases.  It just SCARES him to care about someone else because it produces an enemy an opportunity for leverage. Which brings me to: courage? Yes. But. Specifically because he is almost always afraid of something, and hiding that fear.  Finally, the inexplicable misogyny in Utopia, Last of the Time Lords, and especially The Doctor Falls?  Considering the Master, like all Time Lords, is nobinary, and doesn’t recognize human gender distinctions, his disdain for “girls” is a stupid arbitrary bit of bad writing with zero basis in Classic Who. Oddly enough the writing in The Doctor Falls is self-contradictory in this manner, as the Master dresses and self-presents as nonbinary, with heavy eye makeup and yet with facial hair (he does the same, actually, in End of Time).  So I write it off as him using whatever weapons in his arsenal he knows will hurt his (human) enemies.  Like Martha, Jack, and Bill.  Notice that when he’s with Missy, who is himself, and therefore someone he respects, NOT an enemy, and NOT a human, he refrains from any gendered insults altogether. 

mycroftplayingoperation:

now that’s what I call a plot twist.

I think this is actually really revelatory about the Master: a strange naivety that makes him susceptible to underestimating his adversaries, one that goes beyond just his extreme arrogance.  There is something oddly childlike about the Master throughout all his faces this way, with the possible exception of Missy.  But how many regenerations does it take to “cure” that naivety? 

Source: mycroftplayingoperation

“Master, what do you consider the defining moment that made you who you are? Was it failing to capture the Doctor in order to garner a promotion as a Truant Officer by the Council after the whole Destination incident? Was it the temptation of the Darkheart device and discovering that Ailla was a spy? And why, once you became ‘The Master’, did you swear vengeance on the Doctor himself and not Gallifrey, or the Council? The Doctor only broke a promise. Your people are the ones who betrayed you.”

image

“How dare you, you tick? You flea sucking on a dungfly.  Who do you think I am?  A piece of meat for your latest tabloid thrill?  BACK OFF.”

It’s with a stage actor’s gut-based projection that the Master thunders these words.  After a moment of morbidly curious consideration, however, he drops his laser hand to his side.

“First of all, mention Ailla again, and I will flay you with a dull spoon.  She was only the confirmation of suspicions I held already, about my place in the cosmos; all that she did was allow me to realize that I was safer traveling alone.  Don’t bore me with the tediousness of recalling her.  I became the Master for all intents and purposes when I was a small child and I believed I had murdered a schoolyard bully who was trying to drown my best friend.  That was the germ.  The seed.  The soil had already been tilled to a fertile state by my failure to pass the Test of the Untempered Schism.  I stood before it, heard nothing but the Drums that so long plagued me thereafter–furbished by Rassilon himself, ruining my young mind for his own skin’s sake–and wet myself.  I was dragged off that mountainside ill with fear, and my looming parents? Oh, if you can even call them parents, and not donors, sponsors.  They made it clear that I had also failed to serve my purpose for being born.  It was on a bribe to a High Council elder that I was admitted into the Prydonian Academy at all.  And oh, the whole of House Oakdown made certain I knew this every day my hearts beat from that moment on.  We were already newbloods, you see: we had much to prove, and I had not pulled my weight.  So I spent every second of every hour of every day studying, practicing, reciting, learning. Perfecting myself. 

“Combine those two early experiences, and I suppose you had the brain-cocktail that made me so very desperate to reject the gnawing futility, the pointlessness, the smallness, of my existence, or anyone else’s.   Conflate that with my seeming capacity to harness death from a young age, and I learned that the way that I could become notorious was through infamy: through the resolute conquest of mortality itself.  

“I am Master, then, over Death. 

But if you’re asking for the moment that I decided to don that moniker, it was not any shallow act of self-promotion within or without the Academy.  It was not the day I became a Time Lady for the first time, and married for status, and loomed a daughter; it was not the day, earlier even than that, that the Doctor did the same.  It was not the day the Deca disbanded.  It was not various temptations, not the Darkheart device.   It was the day he left Gallifrey, and didn’t take me with him.  Because you see, there’s a flaw in your logic.  You want me to hate the Council, the Elders, the whole of Time Lord society, even the whole of Gallifrey, because they gave me the Drums, and targeted me incessantly as a scapegoat for their corruptions, and captured and executed and resurrected and experimented on me.  But that’s the very rub:  I knew all along they were worthless. I knew all along they were rotten, and stifling, and cruel.  I knew it from youngest childhood, thanks to my ‘family.’ 

“I never loved those people.  Never pinned my hopes on them.  Never took their hand in a red field of grass, never met them under cover of silver trees to tinker with contraband pieces of TARDIS or with a thing lesser species called ‘physical affection.’  Never spent hours entwined limbs and minds with them, exploring the euphorias of touch telepathy. Never played with them, ran with them, made plans with them, charted stars with them, danced with them, dreamt with them.  That was all Him.  He was my sole antidote to that desperate scheme to control mortality itself.  And when He left, I realized there was no alernative. When He left, I grasped hold of my madness and made it my sole badge of honor.  

“That was the day I burned the prints off my fingers and had my birthname expunged from all public records. 

“I had nothing, so I laid claim to everything.”