Major Spoilers - Blog Posts
I've talked once before about how Xeno needs Stan yet holds him back, but today I want to look at how much Stan's presence is also a detriment to Xeno and how his dependence on him leads to aggressive and (frankly) self destructive behavior.
Stanley is very put together, strategic, and calm until Xeno is taken away from him. While everyone else understood that Xeno wasn't in any real danger, and Stan out of everyone knew the connection of mentor / mentee guaranteed a safe and even healthy and stimulating environment for Xeno, he still snapped.
He immediately lost composure and fell for the stupid medusa trick, letting them pass unharmed. He made brash decisions when trying to take Xeno back, and eventually lashed out and murdered everyone with more force and violence than necessary to get him back.
Because of all this, I always see Xeno as an anchoring stone for Stan. And I like to imagine that they both see Stan as an emotional anchor for Xeno, even though, historically, he very much is not
Stan allows Xeno to tip into the dictator mindset and feeds into that wish. He would kill anyone who gets in his way and will hold Xeno on a pedestal, away from everyone who has hurt or undermined him, only further allowing the detrimental mindset of "us vs them" to grow and separate him more. Honestly, Stan doesn't notice it, but his presence in Xeno’s life is largely a bad thing. Instead of letting Xeno vent his frustrations in a healthy way, then return to humanity as a part of it, he allows the disillusion of being the only person able to lead the world to fester in his mind. Stanley is an enabler of sorts, allowing Xeno to check out from reality and from the consequences of his actions.
It isn't until Xeno is forced to live without him and strike his own balance in the KOS that his mentality changes. He softens again, finds faith and hope in humanity and creates lasting relationships with others who value science and truth just like him.
This is further proven when the people he's closest to in the Kingdom of Science go missing and he immediately starts to revert back to the mentality of "us vs them" when dealing with others. That same mentality crept up when he addressed the scientific committee and it was GEN who stopped and calmed him where Stan was content to stand back and allow his brash action to continue.
Their relationship can be seen as fairly simple and straight forward, even sweet at first glance. But the more one looks at it, the more layers of toxicity reveal themselves. There's always something new to focus on.
did i cook? :p
Dead End Paranormal Park raises the question: "Could someone get away with body snatching people for years to maintain eternal youth with no one piecing together the obvious evidence?" And the answer was "yes but only if it's Dolly Parton" and I honestly agree.
Transformers: One - What's In A Kneel?
!!!!!MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!
With the responsibility of leadership and the dangers of pedestals and hero worship being such major themes, it only makes sense that all three of the film's leaders would show their true characters, and in doing so seal their fates, in moments where they have to kneel/bow.
Sentinel Prime essentially sets the entire second half of the film in motion when both the heroes and we as the viewer see him kneel to the Quintessons. It confirms everything that Alpha Trion was just telling them/us about him, and it's also the very thing that ends up getting broadcast to Iacon in order to finally expose Sentinel and turn the public against their False Prime.
For all his superficial charisma and his talk of looking out for the little guys, Sentinel himself is truly nothing more than a self-centred, spineless coward, who couldn't care less for the needs of the many and gladly bends to the will of bigger bullies/oppressors in order to keep himself in power.
After learning of Sentinel's betrayal and being subsequently captured with the High Guard, D-16 makes a point to stand while in custody and adamantly refuses to kneel. Even when Sentinel begins beating and torturing him, D-16 makes it abundantly clear that he has no intention of bowing to him or anyone else ever again.
In better circumstances this could be a heroic trait, a courageous defiance and the willingness to stand up in the face of injustice. But it just as becomes a negative one, and it's one of the last warning signs to the kind of leader that Megatron is going to be.
He may have started out with good and heroic intentions, but because of this Megatron sees himself as superior, and whether by choice or by force, he expects his fellow Cybetronians to rally behind him just as they did with Sentinel. While he sees himself as a revolutionary, in the end he's just going to become another tyrant.
And then we have Orion Pax. For much of the film, he's a far cry from the noble, legendary leader that we know and love from other iterations, but he starts to grow into it as he devises the rescue mission, and is tasked with rallying his fellow miners to help.
Having gotten a major upgrade since the last time he saw them, Orion now towers over his former peers and they're utterly awed by the sight of him. Rather than trying to take advantage of their admiration or even intimidate them with his new size and strength, Orion almost seems frustrated by the new height difference, and before beginning his speech he kneels down to literally speak to them on their level.
Orion doesn't make a point to do this, no one has to ask or prompt him to, in fact he himself doesn't even give that much thought to it, it's just his first instinct for how to best communicate. He may look larger and stronger now, but he still values the miners as his friends and his equals, and nothing is ever going to change that.
Gaining the Matrix later on may have gotten him the name, but it's this moment when Orion truly begins to embody the true core and heart of Optimus Prime. Powerful and inspiring, yet humble and caring. Or perhaps, as the legendary Peter Cullen himself has always said:
"Strong enough to be gentle."