Thiago - Tumblr Posts
!!! Mostly responded to the top of this (thoroughly excellent) thread, but!!! This is very close to the exact reason I think ART *also* has little sib energy. Some of its pushiness is no doubt a function of well, it's function, but there's an element of "this is how I understand affection bc my role models for it showed it to me by being bossy and overly accomodating/helpful/nosy, so (as younger sib destined to Surpass) Imma blow the Lid off bossy/helpful/nosy now that I'm Big and Know Everything."
There is a Bigger Sibling in the vicinity of Perihelion somewhere, I KNOW it. That might not be coherent, but I think about this all the time - with ART - so it's really interesting to consider in terms of Thiago!
Thinking about Network Effect in terms of family structure and familial relationships made me realize that Thiago has such younger sibling energy lmao. Like my impression is that for a lot of readers he reminds them of people they don't like but, as eldest of three, my strongest familial association is with my younger sister, lmao. Huffy little junior of the household who thinks that caring deeply about her family means she can tell us what to do. We're adults now, so the vibe is no longer so acrimoniously "but that's not right"/"shut up, I'm older than you"/"I'll tell mom on you!!"- our concerns are much bigger and more complex, and we're much more capable of talking them out as reasonable people with valid concerns- but a certain pushiness remains in our dynamic. I mean, legitimately, everything about Thiago's introduction, from needing to be told by Farai to quit nagging Mensah to flouncing to Arada about the raiders SCREAMS pissy younger sibling to me. An annoying type of character, and hard to take seriously, younger siblings are, but I love them like I love my sister.
Anyway this was mostly a joke post but genuinely, I suspect that if you swapped out his pronouns with she/her and changed nothing else about the text, readers' reaction to Thiago as a female character would be totally different. I didn't use gendered, "bitchy" terms like "nagging" and "flouncing" by accident in that previous paragraph- I did so to call into question how much our gendered perceptions of power and aggression, especially in a brown man character, affect our reading of the text. Did those terms fit with your impression of Thiago's character? How seriously do you take the "threat" of his dislike of Murderbot in light of that?
Thiago's mostly just not listened to except in his professional expertise as linguist (as with the archetypical younger sibling, that's probably where a big part of his pissiness comes from: no one likes feeling unheard by their family). He has a voice in the proceedings and he uses it, but he's not a character who is actually in a position of authority- Murderbot's reaction to him as such is partially rejection sensitivity and partially the long-standing habit of the traumatized in the face of assertive people- and I wonder if readers would be able to see that more clearly if he were a female character. But that's a trite approach to gender, and as usual Martha Wells is doing something more interesting with the series: positions of authority are for women characters; it's her men who are emotionally sensitive and concerned with relationship issues. Ratthi and Thiago are fascinating faces of the same coin in this regard.
I think about this line in that interaction a lot every time I pass it, so to speak.
What’s cool about this is there’s no way ART doesn’t know the answer to that question. We know from [million examples including the advice it gave seconds before this moment] it avoids asking questions it doesn’t already have the answer to. It thought it had a chance to be right about MB doing social things wrong and right about what it should do to manage humans and it was fine with that.
BUT.
In the seconds while Thiago is comprehending MB’s video, ART goes from rolling its eyes at MB’s stubbornness/bad social skills to being so completely on its side against Thiago that it does its socratic assholery just to drive the extent to which Thiago understands nothing about what MB is and what it’s like into his thick skull.
Then it goes “never talk to me or my SecUnit ever again” by sending Thiago off like a child to think about what a shitty dumbass he’s just been.
ART’s position as conversational referee aboard itself is one of my favorite aspects of its love language. It has just made up with MB and Thiago comes stomping in making it SAD?! No, no.
Notice ART is a little shorter/ruder to Thiago from then on. It’s not going to mistreat him, but he done fucked up.
All of the other crewmembers have one and ART didn't want its bbf (best bot friend) left out, that's all! It's definitely not teasing it by giving it a gift it literally has zero practical uses for, not at all
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[ID: A series of rough drawings of the SecUnit from The Murderbot Diaries, with overlaid feed text from it and ART.
Panel 1: Murderbot, an androgynous humanoid with short, messy black hair, is sitting in a chair with its feet on the seat and its arms folded on top of its knees, with a neutral expression. It's wearing a shirt, hoodie, boots, and cargo pants. A couple of tiny drones are hovering around it. The view is from a 3/4 angle and slightly above. The feed text over the top reads ART: [POKE] / (A pause symbol) / MB: Do you want to watch something else? / ART: No. / MB: What, then? / ART: I made you something.
Panel 2: murderbot is in the exact same position, but its expression is now suspicious. The feed text reads MB: I already have enough clothes, ART. / ART: It's not clothes.
Panel 3: The view changes to a straight ahead view and from slightly below. Murderbot is looking up and to its right, a bored and slightly exasperated look on its face. The feed text reads MB: What the hell is it then? / ART: Looking at things is generally a good way to find out what they are. / MB: Ha ha. Just show me what it is.
Panel 4: The view is now from profile, Murderbot is now frowning straight ahead as one of its drones looks at one of ART's drones, which is hovering into view holding a mug that reads "#1 SecUnit". Feed text reads MB: Oh, fuck you, ART. What am I supposed to do with this? / ART: I can put it in the recycler if you don't want it. / MB: Fuck you. / ART: So you don't want it? / MB: I didn't say that. / ART: I'll just leave it here then.
The second image is a close up of the other side of the mug, which reads "THINGS THAT IDIOTS HAVE TRIED TO KILL ME WITH". The mug seems to have a serrated knife and several bullets in it. Large feed text reads ART: You're going to need a bigger mug for that. / MB: Shut up. End ID.]
“You can still get out of this,” Thiago gasped. “Just let us go. You can take me as a hostage—”
Oh, right, that’ll help. I said, “No hostages.”
a comic for network effect this time….. ratthi my beloved
