I Don't Know How You Can Look At Sans' Pacifist Arc Which Is All About Letting Himself Care About The

I'm a firm believer in the idea that Pyro doesn't naturally see in "Pyrovision," but that it's a side effect of their mask/the optics inside it. I feel like they still know what they're doing, though. The rest of the mercs very much know the reality of their job, although some of them see it in a slightly different perspective.

Sniper sees his job as assassinating those who deserve it — only killing people who are "rotten" (as described by his adoptive mother.)

He says himself in the Meet The Sniper short that he isn't a "crazed gunman." He doesn't kill for the sake of killing, he only kills who he thinks should be killed. He's an assassin, it's an occupation. He does it for his job, and states that as a professional, he has standards.

Heavy sees his job as getting rid of "evil men." When discussing taking back his job, he emphasizes that specifically. He isn't just killing anyone, he's killing those who are deemed the bad guys.

We also know he does all he can to protect his family, and his family knows this just as well. He only attacks when it is necessary for him and his family's safety, and/or will benefit them in some capacity. (He's gone through a lot and I feel like we as a fandom don't discuss that enough. I did an analysis over Heavy's past one time in a Discord server and I might post it here if anyone is interested.)

In the Meet The Pyro video, we see how they allegedly view the world. A fairytale-like place full of rainbows, bubbles, sparkles, and almost cherub-esque versions of the enemy mercs.

While it is very easy to just assume this is how they view everything naturally, I don't think it's ever been 100% confirmed that this is the case.

The biggest thing for me is the Pyrovision Goggles in-game. The fact that they can be worn by any class, and it effects all of the mercs the same way, makes me believe that it truly is a result of the optical mask/the lenses within them that makes Pyro see what they do. It would've been so easy to make this cosmetic only available to Pyro, but it isn't.

The fact the goggles includes the "optical mask" text in the center, much like Pyro's mask itself, just pushes the idea that Pyroland is all an optical illusion. Obviously it was never real in the first place, but I don't think it's how Pyro sees everything naturally.

Tying back to the beginning of this post, I believe Pyro knows what they're doing. They know that they're spreading fire and not bubbles and rainbows. But perhaps they keep the mask on for the sake of their own psyche, to make it easier for them to do their job. Much like how Heavy and Sniper justify their jobs by seeing it as killing "evil men," or killing those who are "rotten," maybe Pyro uses their mask and goggles to tune out the dark truth of what they do. It could be yet another reason as to why Pyro never removes their mask.

I love OC x canon btw is so fun

Klaus: You think the wind is ever saying anything we dont know how to hear anymore

Five:

Five: I just want you to stop saying odd shit

i literally love when people realize positive reinforcement works like yes its so silly isnt it. but it literally works humans love juice reward too

Kings "son" = a prince!

Scout and Miss Pauling friendship is one of my fave things to think about but I think a lot of people look over the more complex parts (as complex as fucking. TF2 lore gets) like Scout feelings for Miss Pauling are genuine and he's mostly just really lame about it rather the internally a creep but Miss Pauling doesn't owe liking him due to that, even if you go in the transfem Scout route. I think there have to be a talk and a lot of awkward feelings but i think after a while they would be good friends. Sorry to ramble here in your askbox I just wish this dynamic was explored more in the fandom without outright dismissing character traits of either of them.

No yeah ur literally so right n I've def talked before about how this is the ONE vaguely complex canon character thing I get to be snotty about and that I think like. there are Implications(tm) if you choose to make it so that Scout was NEVER attracted to Pauling ever (usually bc "he's gay") or Pauling is actually attracted to men and now she and Scout can date!! like I'm trying not to be A Hater but I rlly do think a lot of people just haven't deconstructed how they think about men (for the sake of the intentions of the source material, Scout will be a man in this post) who are attracted to women, especially the "loser who gets the girl in the end" archetype. If Scout is attracted to Pauling, he is not in any way owed her reciprocation, EVEN IF she were attracted to men. And people have friends that they're attracted to who don't reciprocate for whatever reason and they manage to work it out. The actual canon Scout/Pauling dynamic (which is that he's really into her and thinks she's into him but she's not and he's lame) IS very funny, but if you want to imagine any sort of closure for these characters it has to involve him coming to terms with it and like. learning to deal. I am SO happy that there seem to be absolutely zero hints of Scout and Pauling actually hooking up at the end of the comic (but what do I know) bc I am SICK of every piece of media on the planet feeling the need to shove a man and a woman together because he likes her and therefore deserves her. This is like, tf2 level nuance! It's extremely simple! Idk this is such like. a common relationship thing that happens in real life and if people can't handle it when cartoon hat people do it idk how they'd handle it if it were happening to them or to one of their friends

cats being capable of understanding accidents and even giving you a little head bonk to let you know you're still cool makes it infinitely funnier that they don't understand when you're trying to help them

cats when you step on their tail: i'll admit that was rather ouchie, but given the lifetime of goodwill and trust between us, one must conclude this booboo is but a fluke.

cats when you try to get their claws unstuck from the couch covering: this nefarious bitch has never had a single honorable intention in their dishonest and shameful life, this must be one of their sinister plots or perhaps even an attempt on my life,

I was gushing to a friend of mine about how much I love Ludwig as a character - you know, as you do - and I thought maybe you guys might like to see it too.

He has the Captain Kirk paradox. Somebody on the Star Trek side of tumblr put it into words once: The Original Series Captain Kirk is somehow able to express large amounts of both masculine and feminine qualities, simultaneously, and not a single bit of it seems weird or out of place for him.

I see Ludwig the same way. He expresses his emotions really freely even in canon - I probably exaggerate it a little bit, but they must have made his face as flexible as they did for a reason. In my experience, none of the other mercs even come CLOSE to the detail of micro-expressions that can be put on him. He was specifically designed to be highly emotional.

Even with this high degree of emotion, he still manages to be masculine as hell in many shots, AND YET, you can look at those very same shots and still think 'babygirl you are a hot mess' completely unironically.

Despite being described simply as a 'mad scientist' or 'mad doctor', Ludwig is a remarkably deep character who is so far detached from gender norms that even observers who are looking for specific masculine or feminine qualities can't really nail them down completely, because he's never not expressing both types of energy.

In conclusion: Once again, it's 4AM, I am Not Okay™️ about that old man, and thank you for coming to my TED talk.