#this is the beginning of a porno oh my god

Oh, you mean in a fight

#this is the beginning of a porno oh my god

I think the reason Spock & McCoy’s relationship worked but Pulaski’s treatment of Data set off so many fans is the latter was completely one-sided. Spock was perfectly capable of defending himself; he had a rapier wit, gave as good as he got and sometimes was the one sassing Bones before the doctor even started anything. Whereas Data has trouble with social cues, nuance and humour. Without the witty repartée McCoy & Spock enjoyed, all you had left was a soft-spoken, almost childlike at times android politely correcting the mean lady who kept calling him a machine. It wasn’t a fair fight. And when you throw into the mix many people reading Data as an allegory for folks on the autism spectrum, well that just makes her look even worse. If the writers had done a better job, given Data some subtle zingers to throw her way, maybe it would’ve worked, but they didn’t. So instead of them bickering like an old married couple, Pulaski just looked like an asshole picking on the guy who couldn’t use sarcasm.

That, and the dynamic is slightly different.

While Spock’s status as a half human does make him part of an oppressed minority on his home planet, that’s not something that a human from outside the culture would necessarily be able to grasp the full implications of.

Instead, McCoy’s jokes are typically about Spock being a Vulcan, and Spock is able to shoot back with snarky comments about humanity.

It works because both species have roughly equal political power. Though Spock’s status as the only Vulcan onboard might tip the scales a little in that regard, fundamentally McCoy’s cracks about his ears don’t pose any threat to him, any more than his comments about “illogical minds” pose any threat to his human crew mates.

By comparison, Data’s position is much more precarious.

Though the Enterprise crew seem to mostly accept him, he still faces regular challenges to his personhood. He has to ask Captain Picard not to refer to Lore (the closest thing to another member of his ‘species’) as an “it”; he is challenged over his right to procreate; he is made to defend his ownership rights over his own body in a court of law on pain of being fucking dismantled.

And it’s the Federation— aka ‘the good guys'— who do this to him. Data’s rights and personhood are always considered conditional, even by his fellow crew members.

He can’t defend himself against Pulaski, not only because of his problems with communication and social cues, but also because— unlike Spock— he can’t really afford to make witty remarks about his own perceived areas of superiority.

His continued right to work on the ship and be treated as a person is basically dependent on the support of human advocates like Picard. Even if he didn’t genuinely seem to consider human nature to be superior to his own, going on about how great androids are was what got Lore taken to bits and stuffed in cupboard.

I’m not saying that Data necessarily has to worry about that happening to him on the Enterprise, but the fact that Starfleet probably wouldn’t care too much if it did happen (so long as Data wasn’t actually damaged) creates a bigger power imbalance between him and Pulaski than existed between Spock and McCoy, and so their interactions hit differently.

sorry but this is such brilliant commentary I have to reblog it

[ID: a screenshot of a tweet by "sg🐌":

Moth *repeatedly bashing itself against my computer monitor*

Me: it's not a touchscreen, you have to use the mouse. /end ID].

[Image Description: a screencap from Star Trek IV: The Voyage home, showing Scotty using a computer mouse like a microphone while McCoy and a White man with glasses look on. End description]

I love Bones so much.

Ranking Nasty Trek Figural Mugs

a few of those extremely creepy Applause figural mugs are making rounds again. I looked it up, there are twenty. I decided to rank them. Images sourced from random eBay listings. (apparently, some people collected full sets?)

1. Gorn. a perfectly charming acceptable mug. I’d be proud to drink out of this boy. definitely aided by how plasticky the Gorn’s head already looks. confused by the width of the yellow stripes. disappointed they didn’t attempt to go for the magical disco eyes.

2. Worf. already a little dead-behind-the-eyes but far better than the later examples (oh, we’ll get there). again, helped by the fact that Worf’s face is made distinctive via hair and prosthetics.

3. ‘Borg’. they kept it non-specific so I can’t needle them about a bad likeness (I just used Hugh because… Hugh) but I will say that this looks far more spy-gadget than borg. also, uh, you might want some help with the eyeshadow fallout there, buddy,

4. ‘Cardassian’. again, helped out by not specifying, but he looks depressed (’s why I went with Damar). I really hate the deep grey wrinkles/ridges. nasty. points for a decent spoon, though.

5. Geordi. we can’t see the eyes so they didn’t have the opportunity to make them creepy- definitely a good thing. there’s something weird about his mouth.

6. Sisko. uh… I don’t like it. 0% of Avery’s charm transferred. a bit malevolent.

7. Beverly. resembles Gates in no way but not actively offending to my sensibilities? what is that hair

8. Deanna. ew. blank personality-less doll. this list is starting to get creepy.

9. ‘Kazon’. first of all, I’m truly bewildered as to why they chose to go for a Kazon as one of their twenty Trek designs? they obviously felt bad about how few Voyager characters they’d picked but- who even remembers the Kazon that well? second of all, bad.

10. Q. this is garbage, they’ve ripped away his sex appeal! can you imagine this soulless ken doll flirting with Sir Patrick Stewart? NO. where’s his chin. where’s his lipstick. SHAME this mug.

OK, we’re getting down to the real unacceptables here.

11. Odo. on the one hand, I enjoy the existential emptiness of this one (same, bro) but on the other hand it is WRONG. this should’ve been the easiest one! Odo doesn’t really have any facial features! his eyes are so blue, his hair is so brown, I’m so confused…

12. Bones. look, I don’t even really know what to say about this one. De Kelley’s charming smirk has been turned into… that. I feel like that mug stole my lunch money.

13. Spock. HOW DARE THEY. his ears are so thick, not the curling delightful vulcan ears he’s due! Leonard’s face is graceful, elegant. this is just sad. green eyeshadow? green??? so weird.

14. Jim. I’m sorry, who is this exactly? I have not met this man. atrocious.

15. Quark. deeply cursed. the eyeliner really makes it what it is.

16. Janeway. the sheer fuckin’ audacity someone must’ve had to look at this fucking thing and declare it an acceptable bastardisation of Kathryn’s beautiful face!! the lips? the brows??? the everything? Kate is fine-boned and delicate. 

17. Riker. ok, to be fair, this mug made me sob with laughter.

18. Jadzia. BAD! VERY BAD! LOOK AT TERRY! LOOK BACK AT THE MUG! BAD!

Bonus: they made her beautiful Trill spots look like sperm! AAHH!

19. Neelix. there are not words in the English language to describe how viscerally ugly I find this mug.

20. Data. why is this the worst offender, you ask? (actually, you probably don’t.) Data is supposed to be full of love! and this is a hollow demonic being! how could anyone do this to our boy. HOW COULD THEY. -1000000/10, this mug is a monstrosity.

And that’s all 20! I’m sorry.

I agree with everything, OP

Oh, Data, I'm so sorry, sweetie😭😭 what did they do to you????

(Somewhat of a translation):

[...ve] tell Gene something of our recent interview with Bill and Leonard - touching on the Kirk-Spock relationship, and Nimoy's feeling that Kirk was essential to Spock's life:

'I know you've told us you designed that relationship as "two halves which come together to make a whole" Is that how you still see it?'

Gene:

"Oh, yes. As I've said, I definitely designed it as a love relationship. I think that is what we're all about - love, the effort to reach out to each other. I think that's a lovely thing. Also, dramatically, I designed Kirk and Spock to complete each other, and, in fact, the Kirk, Spock, McCoy triad to be the dramatic embodiment [to] the parts of one person: logic, emotion, and the bal[...] between them. You cannot have an internal monologue on screen, so that is a way of personifying it, getting it out where it can be seen - that internal debate which [we] all have within. And, I designed Kirk and Spock [as I] told you, as dream images of myself, the two [halves] in terms of the characters, yes. That close[r...] ly."

how bad would it be for the triumvirate if they had to raid your wardrobe for disguises during a stay in the 21st century?

…well, that got out of hand fast for a small sketch

They would look better than me…

here are my two cents :’)

May there be endless wardrobes for these three!

Just so much fun with this clothes thing, welcome to my wardrobe!

I hope this is ok I join this :D

*shows up 15 min late with vintage cocktail dresses*

So, I just realized I wear a lot of pink and grey. Also, home is where the pants aren’t. =)

Took me awhile, but I got it finished!

Starfleet @ Leonard McCoy: Could you please just stop violating the Prime Directive for humanitarian reasons, just for a second

Leonard McCoy:

I’m still not over McCoy casually telling a random woman in a hospital he does not work in, in a century he does not belong in, to “just call [him]” as if there is any remotely possible way she could go about doing that.

…the horror.

I finally finished this. But background is lame. But ok, it’s finished at least. 

hehe