i'd like to think printer interfaces in the 80s didn't have random arbitrary waits programmed into them to avoid this command clobbering and that hardware flow control actually works
this was resolved thanks again to Paul Rickards! turns out using DTR wired to host's DSR as null modem serial cables usually are doesn't work with my setup, however rewiring it to CTS instead works as intended enabling hardware flow control on the host. https://twitter.com/paulrickards/status/1394123341775126530
from all i can tell debugging pyserial.dsr and hooking my scope up to dtr on the typewriter, the signal is being driven as i assume it should, but still messages are being clobbered no matter what which makes this plotter impossible to use as a printer
i'm at my wit's end