meta! which I am moving over here for some reason

[stainless]

So since my tumblr is not the right place for it, I'm just going to link this here and co-sign it. A small excerpt (but the whole thing is worth reading):

This is one of my biggest problems in TFP currently, and frankly with the TF franchise as a whole. I am so sick of the fundamental hypocrisy we’re seeing in the way the Autobots are being handled. The tendency of the Autobots to act amorally or with violent brutality and yet still be treated by in-canon and metatexually as good and noble without qualification scares me.

I’m not saying that the Autobots can’t be morally ambiguous or do bad and violent things, but the text in question needs to own it if that’s the case. What I’ve been noticing in certain TF canons— particularly TFP and Bayverse— is a really disturbing trend of the innate and unquestionable goodness of the Autobots excusing everything that they do, no matter how violent, brutal, unnecessary, or counter to their stated morals it is. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings— except Decepticons, of course, especially if your name is Megatron. Then your only right is a swift execution at the hands of Optimus Prime and his butchers.

I agree. Personally, I am something of an old fogey in this opinion, but I like the clear-cut "this side is good, this side is evil." Morally ambiguous heroes are the thing these days and I'm bored with that. I like the black and white -- though I have to own up that I like it because I find black more interesting. I like asking what makes the bad guys tick, so I'm probably making the good guys inherently boring...

...except that I'm not convinced of that. Because I think choosing to be good is actually fascinating, too. Accepting a code of morality means restraining yourself. Here are some things it can mean:

• Choosing to show mercy when logic tells you that someone will continue to be dangerous.
• Choosing to show mercy when you've spent years wanting revenge.
• Going against those around you who have quicker tempers.
• Dilemmas where you want to do Right and two courses of action are open to you and you don't know how to decide which to follow.
• Dealing with people who think of you as sanctimonious or overly idealistic while remaining true to yourself.
• Dealing with the question of whether you are sanctimonious or preachy, and how that means you should (or shouldn't!) change.
• Dealing with the question of converting the bad guys. Can you? Should you try? Are you invested in trying even though it's futile? Do you know it is, yet try anyway? If so, why is this?
• Your concept of honor vs. your society's. Are they the same?
• Character development: why is being good so important to you? Is it just obvious and about the greater/social good, or is it personal to you and your self-conception?
• Are you the good guy you think you are? Some people/characters commit horrible atrocities in the name of the greater good. Is that you? Do you know it, or are you naive? Set in your ways? Not giving a fuck about he consequences?
• ...Or perhaps you're a hero in your own mind and a bumbler or a giant jerk in everyone else's. See also: TFA Sentinel.
• Were you always good, or did you make a choice somewhere? Are you someone who finally saw the importance of the values of your Good Guy society? What led you to that?
•  Are you a former baddie who turned? What led you to that? Are you zealously devoted to your new creed in ways that make the other Good Guys envious -- or uncomfortable? Or are you the opposite, and keep thinking about not-so-little-after-all things you still agree with the Evil Empire about? What kinds of conflict does that lead to?

There's nothing inherently wrong with gritty good guys, or good guys who are gray but a little whiter than black (or than the blackish-gray of bad guys who are themselves not totally evil.) But very often, gritty good guys bore me because it's written without much nuance. It ends up only about "there's a dab of black in our white, so we've officially done enough to make the heroes interesting. Pat us on the back." And I'm left going, "Sorry, I don't feel like your good guy is more human here. I just wonder WHY THE FUCK HE DID THAT THING." (Ages ago when I was making Deceptisnarky icons, I had an idea for one I never actually made, reading "SCUSE ME GOOD GUIZ WTF R U DOIN" expressly for these "YeabuWHA?" moments.)

Gritty good guys aren't easy, not when done well. Just like well-rounded villain protagonists are not easy. You can't just add a dollop of "realism" and be done.

In terms of the stuff in TFP that has people twitchy, none of the particular actions committed by the Autobots bother me. I don't mind that Optimus flip-flops between wanting to redeem Megatron and feeling sure he should kill him. (That seems a sensible reaction to me, actually. I've felt betrayed by people I was very close to before, and my feelings were all about flipping from "I loathe you, you good for nothing jerk scum parasite!" to "I miss you like hell, man. Can we work this out?") I don't mind Bulky losing his shit and ripping apart someone who we all thought for a minute was Starscream.

What I do mind is the lack of a rich context. The lack of inner struggle that leads these characters to decide that Right demands something they are uneasy about doing. Or the lack of "yep, he lost it" reactions, whether from their own consciences needling them or their friends being surprised or uncomfortable or their society's rules demanding the mercy they refused to show.

When a good guy does an iffy thing, that should be acknowledged.

Do that, O Writerly Bunch, and you'll actually be doin' it not only rite, but pr00ty awesome.

NB: I'm using the standard white and black for good and evil. There are issues with that too. I'm not tackling those here at the moment, but please don't take me to be ignoring them. Feel free to replace "white" with "red" and "black" with "purple" to avoid Unfortunate Implications if you like.