#except that's not what rapunzel wants really. rapunzel wants cass to be her friend

[bestworstcase]

What characters do you think are bigger than their stories? Like, their original stories act almost like a prison, stopping them from reaching their true potential?

scream laughs in the Entire Cast of TTS 💀

which. it’s a disney princess cartoon, of course the character writing isn’t good—except, in a lot of individual episodes in s1-2, the character writing is actually really fucking good, and even in s3 when the narrative finally cratered in on itself there are traces, fingerprints, pottery shards of a story that could have been incredible if it were not doomed from the start by the fact of it being a disney cartoon.

like.

the writing team behind tts looked at rapunzel. looked at tangled. this disney princess story about a girl who grew up alone in a tower with nobody but a lizard and her viciously cruel, manipulative, abusive kidnapper, this girl who in the film is portrayed as a pure, sweet, innocent ray of sunshine. right.

and they went: the ray of sunshine is a shield she does not know how to put down, and this girl learned ALL of her social skills from an emotionally abusive manipulator, and now she’s a princess and a myth and a miracle and there is only one person in this story who can meaningfully tell her no.

and then they went: let’s give her a best friend who’s a little bit older, ambitious, hard-working, socially deft, and common. let’s make that best friend her lady-in-waiting on top of being a maid, and miserable in both those roles because all she wants is to be a guard like her dad. and let’s really lean into how she cannot say no to the princess, who learned 100% of her social skills from mother fucking gothel.

the core conflict of every single keyframe episode in this show is about the slow and painful death of that friendship, by rapunzel’s hand, until cassandra goes fuck this and literally! LITERALLY! steals rapunzel’s destiny, steals her structural role as the protagonist of the story, and throws herself into the arms of an Actual Demon because the demon is the first!!! person she’s ever!!! met who treats cassandra like she’s worth anything outside of being an appendage of the lost princess. and it tailspins from there, but like—HELLO!?

rapunzel the disney princess of all time. she barbecues her best friend’s hand with a rotting curse by accident and then has a whole episode about aggressively Not Apologizing. cassandra ends up apologizing to HER! for lashing out after HOURS! of rapunzel trying to corner her into talking about it. (note, not in a protagonist-centered-morality way: the episode begins with putting the reality that cass is disabled now because of rapunzel front-and-center, portrays rapunzel’s anger at cass as irrational and unfair, and makes a point of having cass say she’s still angry at the end; all of this is meant to be the death knell of the friendship and the next thing that happens is the arc where the Actual Demon befriends cass by being nice to her.) it’s fucking GREAT.

honorable mentions to: eugene “afterthought” fitzherbert, lance “he’s the funny black guy so him getting gruesomely almost murdered is about eugene’s romantic woes actually” strongbow, varian “convenient plot device” lastname, queen “the only alive mom in the series, we’ll throw her a crumb of characterization once every other season” arianna, adira “couldn’t figure out what to do with her in s3 so we wrote her out and then turned her into a mind controlled mook” lastname, and zhan tiri “all the depth and complexity of soggy cardboard” the ancient evil demon who nonetheless managed to be THEE best part of season three. and the separatists of saporia. and sugracha (best disciple). and tromus. and lady “we cast laura fucking benanti as a pirate anti-monarchist revolutionarybut we’re not going to let her sing, or appear in more than three episodes” caine.

#what makes tts so special is #no matter WHO your fave is #1. you think they were done dirty #and 2. you are right

[varibean]

formal apologies to the varigo tag for filling it up with my nonsense but! more of the ‘hugo was there the entire time’ au

at the end of ‘What The Hair’ hugo stumbles into old corona after running away from donella. varian immediately is like ‘!!! new friend!!!!’ and takes him in and quirin graciously allows him to stay. Hugo is telling himself that he’s just casing the place so he can steal from them but varian is just so genuine and nice that he starts to get a little crush 

ok so then Great Expotations happens. hugo has been helping varian with his project. and he’s had to suffer through his first lil crush talking about ~cassie~ all the time. so as they’re walking to the expo, he sarcastically tells varian “Wow, hairstripe. you’re putting so much work into this thing for her, might as well make her your assistant.”

varian doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm and tells hugo that’s a great idea! He’ll ask! but inside he’s a bit sad bc hugo was supposed to be his assistant and he thinks this is him quitting. but he’s also trying to be a good friend bc he’s never had a friend that shares his interests before. 

they get there and it all goes down the same except hugo is huffy in the bg. he’s trying to enjoy the expo but out of the corner of his eye he just sees varian doing all of cassandra’s chores and is getting kinda upset on his behalf. 

meets back up with varian when he sees cass doing guard duty but not his lil friend and he finds out that varian is finishing up for her. his Young Teen Boy brain is just getting angry like “Ugh, she’s just a stupid girl, this isn’t worth it.” 

storms off after keeping varian from falling down the stairs only for rapunzel to stop him and ask him what he’s so upset about and opens up just a little bit. bc rapunzel has Getting People To Talk powers. 

then the presentation comes around and cass backs out as hugo comes up to talk to varian about getting upset earlier. he overhears it and is like “so is the assistant position still open?” 

they present without a flaw, but varian still loses bc it’s not enough Flair and he gets pouty. then there’s the canon scene with cassandra, with hugo coming in at the end where cass says that varian is special. 

“She’s right, hairstripe. You’re a pretty special guy.” 

“You really think so?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, I mean, you didn’t even want to be my assistant today.” 

“Of course I wanted to be your assistant! I just got...jealous...” 

then the whole mess with varian’s machine takes place before hugo can explain himself. they fix it, all the same. only hugo totally steals the ribbon instead of just finding it. thinks that varian doesn’t see because he’s trying to hide his past as a thief but varian totally sees. in a show of good faith, he lets cass pin the ribbon to him.

but varian’s starting to get a lil crush on hugo now oops. and hugo is learning to be a bit softer and more open and learning that it’s ok to talk about his feelings, he doesn’t have to hide them all with sarcastic comments and pettiness. he’s also a lil softer than his vat7k self bc he’s younger and got to varian before that spark of excitement and wonder flickered out, and now he’s going through a big ol’ puppy crush 

#varian #varigo #tangled the series #i wanna draw or for someone to draw that scene where varian is like 'but cassandra is going to be there right?' #only with hugo suffering in the bg #long post

[sboochi]

Elite 4 Rapunzel thoughts! At least what comes to mind right now lol

- The newest to the group and Everyone's little sister (except for Jamie, then she's the big sister ofc)

- Had a pretty sheltered life growing up, so she's still clueless on some things but her family is happy to teach her

- Engaged to Eugene, who recently became the Dark type Gym leader with her encouragement

- Has a lot of the Cutesy pokemon too, m a n y Fairy types (she gets along well with the Fairy Gym leader) but chose her Official Type as Psychic because she has a Bond with her Solrock and wanted it on her team

- She and Cassandra lived together when Rapunzel had Just gotten away from Gothel so they became very close friends at that point. Cass is who encouraged her to try for the position!

- She has a Kecleon! He's much much smaller than Kecleons normally are, some kind of runt or dwarf thing going on (he's perfectly healthy, not to worry) and he doesn't fight, but usually hangs out during her battles anyway, to cheer her on! (I HAD to give her a Pascal)

- Really really just wants Jack to Talk To Hiccup about his crush. Like boys please just Communicate it's a wonderful thing

- I can't decide if her Galarian Rapidash is Maximus or if she has a regular old Rapidash that's Maximus, but he's definitely one of the two lol

C

Ca

Cass headcanons?? 👉👈

#the kecleon as pascal i love it #asks #sneakysidekick #pokemon au

[incomingalbatross]

Lance's intro episode is so good

It is, in the end, about Eugene facing the fact that even a Dashing Adventurer Thief is still a thief, and he can't just shrug off the things he did simply because he got to stop doing them. Which is one of the things that elevates this show, to me, because they didn't have to go there! But they did!

But also HONESTLY people need to start LISTENING when he tells them he's Eugene now. Literally no one believes in Eugene Fitzherbert except Rapunzel and... I have Feelings about that.

Anyway, though: LANCE. Menace to society. Eugene but with slightly fewer braincells and like two steps behind him in character development. Good to see him! Deeply frustrating, but still good. They did a good job of writing "Eugene's foster-brother" when building his character.

Cassandra is SO RIGHT to have alarms blaring in her head. She's doing such a good job.

...But Rapunzel is also valid to be like "FUTURE IN-LAW! Person Eugene loves!! This is the best!! :)" She just wants Eugene to be happy and to have loved ones!! Family and friends are Good Things!!

Ugggggh Eugene stop LYING to RAPUNZEL. It feels bad, obviously. It SHOULD. She TRUSTS you. :( But also ugh Eugene being torn between his love for Lance and his love for Rapunzel... (and what he knows is right).

Lance has NO MORALS and, again, slightly less brains than Eugene. Very good glimpse at Flynn Rider by proxy.

OHHH I LOVE the silhouette sequence. SO good. So fun.

...Cass and Lance are actually kind of in sync here (never tell either of them), in that they are mostly just sitting back with smugness and popcorn at the ready, because neither of them is emotionally invested in the Problems the way Eugene/Rapunzel are and so they don't really GET their respective friends' investments.

Eugene will lie TO Rapunzel (hating it), but when it all comes out and Rapunzel takes it upon herself to lie FOR him, that he can't take. He won't keep running from the consequences of his own crimes, but he especially won't let her compromise herself for love of him. <3

The fact that they talk about the emotional impact of being robbed!! That this is given weight! Yeah I'm not over that.

Additionally, the way the corrupting influence of the criminal life is shown in the fact that there is no trust between Eugene and Lance by the end of this episode. They grew up together. They cared about each other through all those years, as much as they cared about anyone. But...none of that can be trusted to outweigh self-interest by this time. There IS no honor among thieves.

But ALSO also. That Lance donated (almost all of) his haul to the orphanage, under his REAL NAME. He got it! He got at least part of what Eugene's been saying!

And that Rapunzel can still, sincerely, trust Eugene completely after all of this episode... and that she's still RIGHT. She does know he never wants to hurt her. She sees the good in him and the good is REAL, and that's why she sees him MORE clearly, at the end of the day, then all the other "wiser" characters.

#i think maybe i need a tts tag that isn't just the show name #hmmmmmm #anyway good episode lots of feelings about it #edit: yes i'm giving it a tag #sunshine kingdom

[neokonewman]

Do you think Faith, the hand maiden girl who Rapunzel called a "dud" when considering her as a replacement for Cassandra's position as her Lady in Waiting should have had a bigger role in the story? I have seen fans say she should have been given a bigger role and become a friend of Rapunzel. Personally she never really made a big impact on me and I don't know why some fans have fixated on her. Faith seemed pretty one note to me. What could they have explored with her?

Pretty good question honestly. I’m of the opinion that any character can be interesting if they are meant to be. Like, if given enough focus, Faith could have been another good female friend for Rapunzel to work off of. Not only that, but since the show was leading up to Cass ultimately leaving Corona, it would have been nice to know that Rapunzel still had a close female friend at her side while her best friend went off to see the world.

On the other hand, it is pretty dang clear that the show had no interest in making Faith an actual character at all. In fact, I think the only reason she was even given the littlest of screentime in S3 is purely just so Cass can steal her identity for the day in Once a Handmaiden. Honestly, that is made even more likely considering we didn’t even get her name until that episode purely because Rapunzel and Eugene HAD to call Cass something while she was pretending to be Faith.

I guess in the end, I’m of the camp of “Faith needed more screentime,” but not so much because I wanted her character around more, but because she could have given an actual female friend possible closer to Rapunzel age to bond with. Honestly, for a girl’s show, Rapunzel only really hangs out with a bunch of older dudes or little kids with the sole exception being Varian who is still quite younger than her. Plus, Rapunzel was being a big jerk by calling Faith a “dud” just because she didn’t want to go into a filthy tunnel filled with bugs and bones.

As another side not that kind of applies to this, TTS had a horrible habit of putting Cass on a pedestal for being “not like the other girls” to the point that it feels like if you aren’t a rude tomboy like Cassandra, then you aren’t worth Rapunzel’s time. Rapunzel actually befriending Faith not only would give her more than just one female friend for the entire show, but it would also make Rapunzel not seem so narrow minded when it came with other girls that aren’t just Cassandra.

#tangled the series #rapunzel’s tangled adventure #tts #rta #rapunzel tts #rapunzel rta #faith tts #faith rta #also i guess having faith around could have explored more of the staff of the caslte #considering she has been a maid there since before ever after #please having the perspective of a maid who is close to having a nervous breakdown could have been interesting too #considering how old lady crowley is #personally tts needed more girl characters period #neo muses #neo answers #anon ask

[pansy-picnics]

just wondering what are some of your new dream/cassunzel/uknighted dream headcanons?

i have SOOOO many omfg OK

- i like to imagine cassandra and rapunzel had like….kind of a confession in peev but it wasnt really discussed in depth nor did they actually untangle their feelings for each other so i dont think they actually get together until cass comes back after being gone for a few years. honestly at this point rapunzel still thinks her feelings for cass are platonic so like💀💀💀

this means when cass DOES leave we cue rapunzels Gay Longing (tm) as she does things that she swears are totally platonic like wearing the tunics she left behind and spending hours reading each letter she sends because she has to take in every word and appreciate every last bit of her essence. she sniffs the envelopes because they still have cassandra’s scent on them and. yeah she’s down bad

and eugene can obviously TELL theres something Not Platonic here. but he can also tell rapunzel doesn’t realize it herself and its not his place to just Tell Her so he has to do his best to urge her in the right direction. he’s incredibly open to discussing it and tells her its ok to process those feelings and figure them out. i think rapunzel having a close female friend would rlly help her understand those feelings and she’s like “OHHH so girls DONT just want to kiss each other on the lips as like a friend thing….huh”. i’m only half joking btw.

in my head i like to see that friend being anna…i rewatched the first frozen movie the other day while i was drawing and i need to draw them sometime bc they hold a very special place in my heart

anyways i like to imagine cass coming home to visit at some point and theres so obviously something Going On between her and rapunzel and it’s SUPER awkward and eugene is abt to lose his mind trying not to say anything. but they figure it out eventually dw

- rapunzel LOVES having little trinkets that remind her of her loved ones and her partners are no exception. before cass left the two of them swapped bracelets because it reminded them of each other and they basically wear them forever… if they ever break or get too worn or anything they’ll make new ones together. rapunzel also has a three banded wedding ring for both cass and eugene. she puts them all on her right hand along with her bracelet from varian, because she’s right handed and likes to see them while shes working and be reminded of her favorite people in the world <33

- cass coming to rapunzel and eugene’s wedding and instead of throwing the bouquet into the air rapunzel throws it right into cass’ arms and winks at her. eugene’s giving her a smug look like “you’re stuck with us now”

- rapunzel’s bed is big enough that sleeping arrangements are easy, though they dont really have anything consistent. they all take turns sleeping in the middle and sometimes some of them end up sleeping separately, like when rapunzel and varian pass out on the couch and eugene and cass don’t have the heart to wake them up

- rapunzel and cass going out to the lagoon together since it’s “their place” but quickly realizing it doesn’t feel the same without eugene there, so they bring him out to join them and now it’s all of their’s <3 they have quiet picnics there for anniversaries and stuff

- before rapunzel started dating cassandra, every year on rapunzel’s birthday (or just sporadically for the fun of it) eugene would her out on boat just like they did when they first met. when cass came along, they realize those boats aren’t really made to comfortably sit three adults, so they sit out on rapunzel’s balcony for their little lantern dates instead

lance, the girls and varian + the 7k kids eventually take note of this and band together to build a big enough boat for all three of them as a surprise, which they’re all thrilled about. when they’re finally able to go out together its super cozy….they all just sit there with raps snuggled warmly between cass and eugene, they’re cuddling and playing with each others hair and eugene has his arm loosely around both rapunzel and cass’ shoulders which is enough for them….augh they’re so soft

- on that note one of my favorite things abt uknighted dream is like just how comfortable they are with one another. eugene and cass may not be romantically involved but they still trust and care abt each other deeply. the combination of platonic and romantic love and just that feeling of being safe with Your People. that’s just what the whole dynamic is abt to me

uknighted dream is abt cass and rapunzel making out on the bed and then eugene walks in wearing only a towel and hes like “where’s my GOOD moisturizer. like u know the one” and cass and rapunzel both pause and look up at him completely unfazed and cass is like “i think lance had it” and eugene just yells “FUCK” and leaves the room and then they casually go back to what they were doing

- cass and eugene spar together often and rapunzel likes to sit and watch while she sketches them… partially for figure sketching and partially just to….enjoy the view

ofc cass and eugene are still to this day amazed with her art and always admire it after the fact while rapunzel’s like “^^; this isn’t even that detailed or like. Good” “WHAT DO YOU MEANNNN THIS IS INCREDIBLE”

- going waaaay back to post movie here, but kind of relating to that, i think gothel never complimented rapunzel’s art. unless it caused a mess it never mattered to her so it wasn’t worth mentioning…because of this rapunzel kind of just assumed this was something Everyone could do and it wasn’t anything important, so when eugene saw her paintings for the first time and was completely blown away rapunzel was so confused. like can you not??? do that??? and eugene’s like NO WHAT?????

rapunzel’s still a bit awkward about receiving compliments relating to her artistic skills but shes learning to appreciate it and her talents a lot more. especially with both her partners constantly showering her in praise and affection

- MATCHING TATTOOS!!!! raps designed this one to get on her thigh and eventually eugene and cass both got one to match <33 it’s forever her favorite of all her designs

- the three of them having tonsssss of visual signals and cues that they send each other during royal events or through big crowds to easily spot each other without having to say anything. rapunzel especially needs these cues a lot of the time since she’s autistic and can easily get overwhelmed or suddenly need to leave the room and eugene is really good at making up bullshit excuses for it if anyone asks

- in parallel to eugene calling her “sunshine”, raps calls cass “moonbeam”

- no thoughts just cass and eugene counting rapunzel’s freckles and trying to kiss all of them. also this image

- rapunzel is VERYYYY affectionate and clingy she’s sensory seeking and has many different love languages. she loves running up to eugene or cass whenever they finish work and throwing herself into their arms. she loves playing with their hair and ambushing them with kisses and surprising them when shes DEFINITELY supposed to be in a meeting. also sometimes she bites people but it’s like out of love so its ok

- i’m just writing down every thought that comes in my head atp but modern au cass and eugene would definitely have a shared playlist solely for songs that remind them of rapunzel

additionally

#tangled the series #rapunzels tangled adventure #tangled #princess rapunzel #tts cassandra #eugene fitzherbert #tts headcanons #new dream #cassunzel #uknighted dream #pansy rambling again #ask #tangled ask

[rusty-clock]

Rapunzel is not responsible for Cassandra's villain arc

Hello and welcome back to "Rusty avoids studying" talks!

In my last post I talked about how I don't think Rapunzel is not responsible for Varian's villain arc. Lets move on and talk about how she is also not the one to blame (or least not only one to blame) in Cassandra's villain arc

Lets start with the show's point of view.

Just like with Varian, the show gives Cassandra a motive to hate Rapunzel but uses something that can't be held against her. With Varian it was her not coming with him to Old Corona during the storm which is understandable reason enough but she can't really be blamed for that.

With Cassandra the reason was that Gothel abandoned her as a baby and chose Rapunzel instead (she also blames Eugene for, you know, unaliving her)

Well, that's obviously something that can't be held against Rapunzel. She was a baby who was taken from her home, how can she be accused for that? And I can't see her thinking as an adult "ah yes, I definitely wanted to be kidnapped from my parents and be raised by my abusive kidnapper for eighteen years". So, yet again the show makes villains dumb by making them hate Rapunzel for something she has no control over. Rapunzel just is not allowed to make mistakes (but lets save that for another rant)

Now lets go to the real reasons why Cassandra should turn against Rapunzel

Since they met, Rapunzel and Cassandra's relationship has been twisted. Cassandra did not want to be friends with Rapunzel and instead of respecting her wishes, Rapunzel used her power as a royal to force Cassandra hang out with her, manipulated her and guilt-tripped her. When Cassandra admitted she only wanted to go to the Contest of Crowns because she could get a place in Ingvarrian army, Rapunzel should have finally understand that maybe they just weren't fit to be friends. She had right to feel hurt for that slight manipulation but then again, she basically forced Cassandra to join that competition and humiliated her in front of nobles from all seven kingdoms. She lost the moral high ground after that.

During season one, Cassandra falls more and more under Rapunzel's command. She has her own dream to become a guard but still stays in Corona even though her father is very reluctant to give her any guard assignments. At this point Cassandra is around 22-23. That's a good age to leave home and get new experiences instead of staying home with a parent who somehow still seems to see her as a child. Cassandra probably would have left if not feeling like she is somehow responsible for Rapunzel, who in turn has no responsibility of anything whatsoever, especially if it means she has to face consequences for her own actions.

Then, in season two, Rapunzel's problems come into plain sight.

In this picture Rapunzel is expressing frustration for Cassandra not wanting to talk about what happened which would be fair except that their talks have never ended well for Cassandra.

When Rapunzel says "we need to talk about this" she actually means "I want to tell you how mad I am because you are mad at me and I'm actually right and you are wrong so you should feel guilty for being mad at me." It's never "I did a wrong thing" but always "I did a wrong thing, BUT".

So yes, not surprising that Cass doesn't want to talk.

Then this grand talk about destiny.

I don't personally think that this whole Gothel thing had very much to do with Cassandra taking the Moonstone. If she and Rapunzel had a good friendship where they respected each other, I doubt it would have make much difference. They both had probably been horrified how Gothel treated Cassandra and Cass has completely right to be angry to Cap for not telling her about her mom but that's it.

However, the fact that Cassandra is Gothel's daughter probably was the last straw which broke the camel's back. And what's more, finally Cassandra had someone on her side: Zhan Tiri.

You that feeling when somebody is unpolite or treats you badly and you say something about that to your friend and they are horrified? Like perhaps you thought before that maybe it wasn't that bad, maybe they just have a bad day or you did say something wrong but your friends reaction confirms that yes, somebody actually treated you badly.

That's what happens to Cassandra.

Since Rapunzel came back everyone have been on her side: Eugene, the king and queen, everyone Cass has ever known, even her own father. Nobody has told her that "hey, the way she treats you is actually bad, she should stop". The only person who saw something else than lady-in-waiting in Cassandra was driven away by Rapunzel's jealousy and guilt-tripping.

So when Cass takes the Moonstone I don't think it had much to do with the stone itself or that vague thought about destiny or that Gothel thing. It was just because Cassandra was tired of playing a part in Rapunzel's show (quite ironic actually, considering she is literally a side character in Rapunzel's show).

The whole situation is like Rapunzel is a girl who moved to the neighborhood and adults coddle her and scold other children when they are mean to her, not being able to see how she treats her so called "friends". And then one day, Cassandra steals a main role in school play which was of course meant for Rapunzel. Everyone is shocked because they did not see what was boiling underneath.

...Okay, that went a bit sidetracked. Lets get back to the show.

In conclusion: Cassandra did not take the Moonstone because of this stupid "you stole my mom" thing. She took the Moonstone because she was angry how Rapunzel had treated her for almost two years now and finally had someone on her side.

So why I don't think Rapunzel is not responsible for Cassandra's villain arc?

Varian and Cassandra's villain arcs are often compared because they are both Rapunzel's friends turned into villains (which tells a lot about Rapunzel's friendship skills) but the biggest difference between them is that Varian is a child. Cass is an adult.

However, that doesn't mean her father should have not kept an eye on the situation.

The Captain (whose lack for name keeps frustrating me) already knew his daughter was unhappy as a maid. Nobody knows why Cassandra really become Rapunzel's lady-in-waiting (there had other girls close to her age: Faith, for example) but Cap should have thought hard if being princess' lady in-waiting was really something that made his daughter happy, especially when he knew she didn't like to work as a maid.

Then there were Frederic and Arianna.

They are Rapunzel's parents. And even though it was probably very hard for them to adjust the idea that their baby was all grown up when they first met her, they still had responsibility to watch and correct her behavior when it was inappropriate. She is the princess and the way she behaves represents the whole kingdom. Her being rude to foreign nobles means Corona is rude to foreign nobles. Etiquette can actually be important.

I won't even start to talk about Frederic because unfortunately he is abusive as well. No amount of "love" can justice locking his grown-up daughter to the tower. But Arianna, as the one parent who had more than one brain cell in her head, should have seen sooner how unhappy Cass was and how Rapunzel thought friends were made. Or, better yet, because both of them were blinded (quite understandably) because the love for their daughter, they should have given Rapunzel a governess or older lady-in-waiting. Someone who had power over her and who she had to listen to.

The fourth person to blame was of course Gothel.

She was the person who left Cass all alone (though it could be argued that she did see the guards with Cass so she didn't, you know, leave her completely on her own) and she is the person who abused and hurt Rapunzel for years. But what she also did, was to teach Rapunzel that if you really love somebody, you can tease them and walk over them and they should not say anything because that's ungrateful. She also taught her that if you don't constantly fight tooth and nail for your freedom somebody takes it away with clever manipulation.

So, because of lack of supervising in Cass' and Rapunzel's friendship three things happen:

One: Rapunzel is living her fairytale coming true. Everyone thinks she is amazing, how is that not a good thing! And because she has never had anyone to compare herself, she believes it

Two: Rapunzel still lives in this fantasy she had in the tower. And because she is a princess, people are afraid to break said fantasy and she doesn't really learn much about real life

Three: when somebody implies that they don't like Rapunzel, she gets terrified because being disliked used to mean being abandoned by the only person she had in her life. So she does everything in her power to make them like her again (see how much effort she puts just to make one grumpy shopkeeper to like her or how hard she tries to make Cass her friend even though she is clearly reluctant)

Because of these reasons I can't completely keep Rapunzel responsible for Cassandra's villain arc. She played a part, sure, but the real blame falls to people who should have supervised her and kept an eye on her. People usually develop a lot socially in their first eighteen years and the only thing she had was an abusive mother, a couple of books and a chameleon. Then she was thrusted into a life where she was loved and cherished by everyone and given power over somebody she wanted to be her friend. It's not really a miracle that ended badly.

In the end we need to address the fifth person responsible of Cassandra's downfall: Cassandra herself.

Her taking the Moonstone was just as justified as Rapunzel's, Sundrop or not. It was still an article in the foreign kingdom which got stolen, no matter who took it. But then, after taking it, Cassandra hurt several people even though she finally had a chance to leave Rapunzel completely behind and "find her own destiny" like she said. In that time she needed to face consequences.

Then again, there has been lots of talk about Moonstone corrupting people but I'm not going there now. Hope you enjoyed my rant!

#tangled #rustyrants #tts cassandra #analysis #rapunzel #moon cassandra

[ame-gosh]

Hi! So I've read your Cass x Rapunzel comic (BEAUTIFUL btw I adore it) and I had a question!

So obviously Rapunzel loves Cass, but I got some hints that she's still with Eugene? But wants to be with them BOTH romantically? Maybe? (Honestly if she does then Good For Her we stan a poly relationship) but I was just curious if that's what's happening or just my interpretation and I'm misreading

(Honestly I love the idea of Rapunzel being with both Cass and Eugene in different but equally full of love romantic relationships. Also the GOSSIP is hilarious to think about)

THANKS ok long story short I left things a little ambiguous because starting out with the first comic I had zero plans other than an urge to get out some Feelings that s2 tiptoed up to but waved away because Disney, and then the other two+ were less angst/commentary (mostly) and more a setup for the whole Cassandra's Tangled Adventure thing. They're meant to kind of co-exist in the margins of the show and not totally take sides, because at the time I felt like that was a fun challenge (I guess it's easier for me to wishfully pretend like the comics fit if they don't actually change what happens in the show. Except for the Epilogue animatic which kind of does take a side bc at the time I thought that was the last thing I'd draw, and then the Question happened)? Which would mean yes, Rapunzel is still in a relationship with Eugene, but very much grappling with untangling (oops) her feelings towards both of them.

THAT SAID I'm of two minds:

1. I think it would be good character development and a welcome challenging of the fairy tale archetype for Rapunzel to realize that yes, Eugene is a dear, dear friend but the very new and intense feelings she had immediately after her imprisonment of 18 years weren't necessarily True Love! And if they were, they can change, and it's ok for them to change, and there are many different kinds of love!! So despite the social expectation of her needing to fall in love with the prince charming character, and after actually living life for a while and discovering who she is, she finds that Cassandra would be a better fit romantically (especially when it comes to themes of freedom and stuff, and there never being an unchanging Happily Ever After, and since Cass was literally designed to be Raps' complement in almost every thematic way, but that's a whole other essay) and through the comics and afterwards she's tentatively, cautiously untangling these feelings and unlearning all of the expectations that'd been drilled into her but desperately not wanting to hurt Eugene in the process

OR

2. All of them very much end up together because absolutely yes the poly angle is cute as hell and very good in so many ways and why shouldn't she have two partners she's been through enough! They all have! and the banter would be incredible and the kingdom would flourish under the rule of the royal coronan power throuple

Even then these things aren't mutually exclusive, and you can definitely have a self-aware deconstruction of the heteronormative true love trope AND they all are in a relationship, and anything in between or beyond. Idk! I'm just a fan artist!

Anyways yeah thanks and I'm really glad you enjoyed them!

#tangled the series #ask #honestly thank you for this excuse to talk about Them i could do so forever #and disney if you're out there i do have a fulltime job but would not say no to drawing cass's tangled adventure comics. just a thought

[nerdasaurus1200]

Angry and Red/Rapunzel and Cassandra analysis part 2!

"I don't want to! Maybe I like being the Wolf! Maybe-Maybe I'm tired of everyone telling me what to do! And I'm sick of people assuming I'm okay just because I won't say I'm not! And another thing! I don't even like the name Red! I only went along with it because everyone expected me too! What if I wanted to be the angry one! Just once, I wanted to be the one to call the shots! Being the Wolf lets me do that!" "Hehe, SISTERS?! My own mother chose you over me! My whole life, I've been cast aside for YOU! No more." "NO! This has to stop now! This thing where you think that you've been my friend, and don't even hear how you condescend the way you've always done!"

Once again, this is same character different font. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if some parts of Catalina's speech was deleted Cassandra dialogue that they just decided to actually use for this scene. Another resemblance that's really striking is that even though both girls are clearly very hurt and very pissed, they're still able to concisely explain what the problem is. They clearly state "You are not listening to me and I don't like it". Also, there's a slight visual parallel here too. Both Catalina and Cass kinda distance themselves from the rest of the group, speaking to the group as a whole. There's even a similar shot from just behind each of them in each scene? The only difference? Catalina has the high ground.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so bossy. We can figure this out together."

However, Angry succeeds where Rapunzel fails. Angry takes full accountability for her actions, apologizes, and says she will do better. Meanwhile, Rapunzel assumes that Cass isn't saying everything (even though she is) and tries to emotionally manipulate her, except it doesn't work.

I think a large part of the reason Angry succeeds where Rapunzel fails is simply because of how much younger she is. Young kids are much better at directly communicating, and therefore there's no need for any complicated underlying issues. On top of that, Angry and Catalina have always relied on each other from day one. There's no super huge status difference or power imbalance that they ignore. They are a team, and they work together.

#tts #rta #tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #nerd talks #angry and red #kiera #catalina #angry #red #cassandra #rapunzel #analysis

[ackerslut]

If you're still taking requests, do you think you could write Varian coming out as trans to Hugo? 🥺👉👈

(this is rambly and it doesn't do ur amazing prompt justice, but here you go love! <3)

ao3

Rapunzel is the first person he ever tells.

It’s before...before everything. They’re not even that close, but Varian feels that they’re on the cusp of something, with each smile she gives him and a friendly arm over his shoulder.

It’s not like his ill-fated crush on Cass or his embarrassing idolization of Eugene that he’s really trying to tone down. If not for his raccoon companion, he’d say she’s his best friend, despite their yawning age gap and the fact that Cass is her best friend.

It’s not until much much later--a promise broken and promise kept later--that Varian identifies it for what it is.

He’s never wanted an older sister, but it seems he has somehow acquired himself one.

But before that, before everything goes to hell, he tells her. It’s an awkward conversation--Rapunzel having been sheltered her whole life just blinks at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments while his face reddens.

“Oh,” she says. “So you used to be--”

“Yeah,” he rubs the back of his neck self consciously. “But I’m not--inside I’m different.”

Rapunzel’s expression clears. “Okay,” she says, instantly accepting his weird explanation without hesitation.

Something frantic settles in Varian’s chest.

______

Eugene and Lance find out in typical Eugene and Lance fashion. AKA, they accidentally unleash a spell on the kingdom that causes all born-males to immediately fall into a cursed sleep. This leaves Rapunzel and Varian--the only two other people locked in the tomb where the inciting incident happens--to figure out exactly how to reverse the affects.

A little bit of magic here, Varian reciting an incantation, and Rapunzel’s fiance and best friend are back, no worse for wear.

“Wait, but you didn’t go into trippy, magic, dreamland,” Eugene says, squinting down at Varian.

Varian offers a shrug, blush climbing up his cheeks. “Yeah, well. Apparently your dumb spell doesn’t think I’m a guy.” He tries not to feel sour about it.

Something visibly clicks behind Eugene’s eyes. He ruffles Varian’s hair in response, grinning lightly. “Ah, ah, the spell is specifically for people with-ahem-male genitales. Nothing to do with non-male-genitale-carrying guys.”

“Weirdest combination of words you’ve ever said, but you’re right,” Lance agrees. “Don’t get your head in a knot over some magic spell that was invented by old-timey dudes, kiddo.”

Varian lets out a relieved laugh, feeling lighter than he has in a while.

______

“Oh,” Hugo says, blinking rapidly. He reaches one hand out and stops, body language stuttering. It’s a far cry from the usually confident boy Varian is used to putting up with. He tries to transition out of the aborted motion by reaching up to run a hand through his tangled blond locks.

Varian keeps his expression as neutral as possible, ignoring the pain in his jaw from the nervous clenching. “If you’re going to judge--” he begins, voice tight.

Hugo shakes his head quickly. His eyes are wide. “No! I wasn’t-I was just-” He swallows, eyes darting around, landing on everywhere except Varian. “I was just surprised.”

The only response Varian gives to that is an annoyed huff. He snatches his shirt off the chair and quickly yanks it over his head, mind already racing between the possibility that he might very well have to dropkick Hugo down a hole and the fact that it’s been four days since they were separated from Yong and Nuru and he really needs the other alchemist to navigate their way through Bayangor.

“So are we going or what?”

____

Their journey through the city is exactly as chaotic as Varian had expected it to be. It reminds him of a few months ago, when they’d journeyed through the City of Light. The air had been hot and the streets so crowded it was a sea of color and movement. Yong and Nuru had elicited to stay on the outskirts, bargaining with fishermen and farmers, but someone had to enter the city and find the pawn shop detailed in Ulla’s diary.

Unfortunately Varian was the only person who could actually decode the thing and Hugo was the only one of their group who’d actually been in the city, so the two had reluctantly set off. Varian barely remembers it--the crowds were fairly disorientating--but he does remember Hugo being kind of an asshole about everything.

Which is really weird, because now they are in a similar situation--navigating through a busy, unknown city without their group--and Hugo is being strangely...considerate?

It’s pissing Varian off.

“Are you gonna be weird about this?” he demands through gritted teeth, turning on his heel to face Hugo.

They’re both standing in an uncrowded area of the market, just a few paces away from an alley. It’s private enough that Varian doesn’t feel nervous about bringing up the topic. Just annoyed that he has to.

Hugo blinks a couple of times rapidly. “What?”

“I’m not a girl. Stop treating me like one.”

Hugo’s face turns red. “That’s not-I didn’t mean-I-” his tone comes out panicked. One hand runs through his wild blond hair, making it stick up in the back. “Me too,” Hugo blurts out suddenly, bringing Varian to a standstill.

His turn to blink up at the tall blond. “What?”

Hugo shifts awkwardly from foot to foot, looking everywhere but Varian. The back of his neck is red. “I mean...I wasn’t born-we’re the same,” he gets out. Everything in his expression is a study of vulnerability--a new look for Hugo.

Varian’s trying to decide if he likes it. He thinks he does.

“Oh,” he says, realization dawning. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Hugo lets out a relieved huff of air. “So like. I’m not judging. There are a million things to make fun of you about, but that’s not one of them.”

Varian simultaneously wants to punch Hugo and hug him. He settles for lightly whacking his arm. “Thanks,” he says dryly, but knows that Hugo can hear the gratefulness in it. “I appreciate the sentiment.”

Hugo’s lips twist into something like a grin. “I’m sure you do, Stripes.” He tosses an arm over Varian’s shoulder, guiding him back through the crowds. “Now stick close, I don’t want to lose you.”

Varian rolls his eyes, biting out a witty rejoiner that Hugo deflects with his usual brand of smarminess. As they continue to bicker through their journey, Varian feels a subtle shift in their relationship.

Varian didn’t trust a lot of people. Hugo was either too trusting or didn’t trust anyone--Varian was still trying to figure out which. But the strange camadrie of sharing a secret with someone--a secret of such weight and importance--has somehow changed everything.

It’s a change that Varian likes.

#trans varian #trans hugo #varigo #varian #hugo vat7k #vat7k #my fic #my fanfic #writing prompts

[bestworstcase]

I like your thoughts on how Rapunzel was handling things wrong in “Rapunzel: Day One.” The episode tries to imply that Cassandra is wrong for not sharing her feelings with Rapunzel, but is a Rapunzel really the person Cassandra should be opening up to? Rapunzel never respects Cassandra’s boundaries. Cassandra’s a private person. Rapunzel doesn’t respect that. And just because Cassandra doesn’t want to open up to everyone doesn’t mean that she’s bottling things up.

ok so this is gonna be a long one bc tbh i like. fundamentally disagree that RDO, the narrative of RDO, in any way positions cassandra as the one at fault for the emotional conflict between her and raps.

to digress a bit - while tts is not immune to Aesop Episodes (e.g. rapunzel's enemy or you're kidding me) wherein the characters close out the story by talking about What They've Learned, ultimately i don't think tts can or should be read as a morality play. it's a story where sometimes characters just... fuck up and the narrative doesn't waste its time on hand-holding or spoon-feeding us the moral.

anyway, i submit that RDO is what i'll call a False Aesop Episode. it follows the basic structure of an Aesop Episode (protagonist acts badly -> protagonist learns a lesson) but the lesson rapunzel learns is a bad one. it's like if you took... say, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" as an aesop, the False Aesop here is rapunzel confidently eating a rotten apple and then being blindsided a few months later when the doctor who kept begging her not to eat food with maggots in it steals the moonstone from under her nose and runs off into the night with her new demon pal--

and that metaphor got away from me a little bit but you get the idea.

#1: constructing the conflict

the episode opens with cassandra. she's training; we see the sword fly out of her injured hand; lance suggests she take a break, and she answers, "thanks to rapunzel's little trick at the great tree, i have to relearn everything using this hand, so breaks aren't really an option."

she isn't harsh about it. her demeanor isn't all that different from her normal self—she even segues into a very typical concern (that the woods are dangerous and they should all be on their guard) and banters with lance a bit.

what this communicates, immediately and succinctly, is that:

1. cassandra's injury is severe. it's disabling. she's either in immense pain or she's lost all the strength in that hand or both.

2. cass is really upset about this, and not happy with rapunzel.

3. nevertheless cass is keeping her feelings more or less in check; the worst anyone could say about her is she's being a bit more curt than normal.

which is to say, she's acting quite reasonable. she's not taking out her hurt feelings on anyone else or being mean or lashing out, and she's not hiding her injury either. the most concerning thing about her behavior here is actually that she's focused on training so she can do her job instead of on healing or resting or taking care of herself.

then there's a pan over to rapunzel, who is angrily watching this play out while venting to pascal. "i get why cass is mad at me," she says. "she told me—" huge disdainful rolling of eyes here "—not to use the decay spell back and the tree, and i did, and she hurt her hand. but if she had just listened to me and stayed out of it, this all could have been avoided! and i feel like we could work things out, but she refuses to talk about it!!"

line this up against cassandra's behavior and spot the differences.

cass is focused on her injured hand. cass is upset because rapunzel accidentally mutilated her in the great tree. that's what this conflict is about for cass; her injury, and how she feels about being injured.

by contrast, rapunzel thinks the conflict is about them not listening to each other. she does acknowledge that cass was injured, but 1. she puts the blame on cass, and 2. has shoved the fact of the injury to the periphery of the conflict. it's not important, it's just a natural consequence of the real conflict, which is cass being mad and petty and refusing to talk to her about how she's unfairly blaming rapunzel for something that wasn't rapunzel's fault.

[i will add here that this behavior from rapunzel is 100% not knowing how to handle guilt and externalizing it as anger, and this thread of rapunzel burying her guilt gets picked up again in rapunzeltopia; it isn't that rapunzel doesn't care that cass is hurt, so much as she's just not emotionally equipped to process these feelings in a healthy way so it mutates into...this.]

and where cass handles her feelings in a pretty reasonable way, rapunzel rants and raves and draws cass as a literal monster with fangs and claws—she's stewing in her out of control emotions and concludes that she just has to find a way to force cass talk to her, which she does shortly thereafter by ordering—not asking—cass to come with her to search for parts to fix the caravan.

#2: the breakdown of communication

i've said it before but it bears repeating: cassandra might not be perfect, but she's a good communicator. in s1 and the front half of s2, she shares her feelings with rapunzel readily and frequently. when she tries to set boundaries with rapunzel, she's able to be clear and specific about what she needs. when she expresses frustration with eugene or her dad or rapunzel, she's very articulate about exactly what she's frustrated about. she can recognize when politer, softer refusals are being ignored and become blunter and more specific to ensure the message is getting across.

the moments when cass struggles to communicate are noteworthy because they're not normal. they signal that she's in acute crisis. think of how her unhinged rant about adira in RATGT heralded a complete emotional breakdown. she clams up in RDO because it's the only thing she can do to protect herself. because rapunzel is an inexperienced nineteen year old who learned all her social "skills" from a manipulative, egotistical abuser and nowhere in the series does that show more than in RDO.

rapunzel knows cass doesn't want to talk about the great tree, so she isolates cass from the rest of the group with the intention of forcing her to talk about it anyway. she's passive aggressive at first: chattering about inanities and trying to bait cass into 'opening up,' and acting vexed and guilt-trippy when she finds out cass brought owl along. she broaches the subject by going "too bad there's not an open-up-to-your-best-friend-about-the-thing-you-guys-are-fighting-about wand, huh?"

then she leads with "i know you're mad at me, but i did the right thing. i didn't have a choice," which... what can cass even say to that? she acknowledged cassandra's anger in one breath and followed up with "but you're wrong tho" in the next. that statement makes cassandra's feelings about her debilitating injury into an argument about Who Was Right.

this is a game that cass tries very hard not to play. "look, if you feel that way, then it's fine. we're good," she says, which is a statement that is not true at all on its face but - what it means is that if rapunzel wants to turn this into a debate about Who Was Right, cass will concede because that's not an argument she's invested in. cass does not want to put her feelings on trial so rapunzel can pick them apart and decide whether she deserves to have them or not.

so she disengages. the sun sets. they camp. rapunzel pokes her again, this time with a more direct approach: "cass, i need to talk about what we both know is going on between us."

and that's when cass throws up a WALL. prior to RDO, when cass is pressed on her feelings, she either: 1. opens up and explains to the extent that she's able (e.g. under raps or RATGT), or 2. flatly shuts the conversation down (e.g. cassandra vs eugene). but in RDO?

"there's nothing to talk about."

"i never said i was upset."

"what makes you so sure that you know how i'm feeling?"

this is cass falling off the end of her rope. this is a cass who spent the last year and a half with rapunzel running roughshod over every boundary cass exhausted herself trying to set. this is cass maybe a few weeks out from rapunzel screaming at her in front of all their mutual friends and then telling her "i am going to make decisions you don't agree with and i need you to be okay with that" when cass tried to open up about her deepest insecurities. this is cass spiraling into despair because she's seen that her best friend cares more about assuaging her own guilt and exerting her authority as a princess than she does about cassandra's feelings.

this is the moment when the friendship dies.

#3: the memory wipe, cassandra's apology, and the false aesop

the details of the tangled-but-cass shenanigans are not super important for the purposes of this discussion. suffice it to say that cassandra lashes out in the heat of the moment, seriously harms rapunzel by mistake, and spends the rest of the episode trying to repair the damage, then apologizes to rapunzel for hurting her. this is, obviously, the correct thing to do when you hurt someone, even if it was an accident.

you see the parallel here, yeah?

rapunzel hurt cass with magic by accident, and then made cass's hurt feelings all about her, blamed cass for the injury, twisted the facts to justify her own indignation, picked a fight about Who Was Right and invalidated cassandra's feelings, and pushed and pushed and pushed until cass blew up and lashed out at her.

cassandra also hurt rapunzel with magic by accident, and then she set aside her own hurt feelings from the argument they were having before to focus one hundred percent of her energy on brewing a cure and keeping amnesiac rapunzel safe, readily admitted her fault, and offered an earnest apology for losing her temper as soon as she could reasonably do so.

if RDO were a true Aesop Episode, this would be the lesson, and rapunzel would of course learn from cassandra's good example and reciprocate by apologizing for the accident in the great tree and her abysmal behavior afterwards—and in a reflection of how cass shared how bottling up her anger allowed it to erupt in a catastrophic way, rapunzel would probably confess that her demanding, selfish behavior came from a place of feeling awful about what happened and terrified that it would ruin their friendship.

but RDO is a False Aesop Episode. rapunzel isn't emotionally equipped to handle the intensity of her guilt, and she lacks the social insight and empathy to draw comparisons between what she did to cass and what cass did to her, so she can't connect the two situations in her head to understand what she's doing wrong. the true aesop flies right over her head, and instead what she learns is this:

1. she was right about cass being upset

2. backing cass into a corner fixed the problem

3. friends really do "just know"

4. being pushy and forceful was the right thing to do.

because the thing is, when cass apologizes for the accidental memory wipe, she truthfully explains why she acted the way she did—she's furious and she didn't want to talk about it, so she held it in as long as she could and then exploded when the pressure became too much—and for rapunzel, i think the explanation and the actual apology get conflated. meaning, cass says "i'm sorry for what i did out of anger" and what rapunzel hears is "i'm sorry for being angry."

and because of that misunderstanding, from rapunzel's perspective her own indignation has been validated and her behavior justified, because she was right all along and cass shouldn't have been angry with her in the first place and now everything is fine--

but it's not fine.

we're not supposed to share rapunzel's perspective here, because she's flat out wrong. nothing is really better and nothing has really changed, except that rapunzel got the talk she wanted and stops putting this intense pressure on cass. so as we enter the house of yesterday's tomorrow, rapunzel is taking it for granted that things are fine with cass, and meanwhile cass is still injured, still angry, still as aloof as she can be without getting rapunzel breathing down her neck again... and then she meets zhan tiri, who gives her everything she needed and couldn't get from rapunzel.

like, to my mind, this is the entire point of RDO, that rapunzel makes this catastrophic mess of trying to patch things up after RATGT and comes out of that mess wrongly thinking she succeeded. the episode is presented through the lens of rapunzel's perspective, but the lines are very wide and i absolutely think the intention is for the audience to read between them and understand the reality that rapunzel has sort of blinded herself to.

#tts #rta #interpersonal conflict......good #theres also a whole separate layer of stuff going on in RDO w the class dynamic #this fight coming on the heels of raps pulling rank in RATGT and all but ordering cass to shut up and deal. like - #in RDO cass is Literally Doing What Rapunzel Ordered Her To Do #being okay with the decisions rapunzel made that hurt her #except that's not what rapunzel wants really. rapunzel wants cass to be her friend #but cass learnt in RATGT that her friendship can't transcend her servitude #she knows now that when push comes to shove rapunzel will treat her like a servant so... she acts accordingly #er #long post

[kingreywrites]

au where someone else - literally anyone but cass - is the one who got burned by the decay incantation

Send me an AU and I'll tell you 5 things about it

we all know what i'm gonna do right? like i am absolutely predictable on this, aren't I?

- SO EUGENE IS THE ONE THAT GETS BURNED AU where basically things play out kind of the same in TGT, except he doesn't lose consciousness, and so he's not about to leave Rapunzel behind. He wasn't there to see the decay incantation the first time, so he's even less aware of its dangers, and he thinks he just... needs to help Rapunzel calm down. She says she can't control it, but he trusts her, and he knows she can do it, c'mon Blondie and-- well. Eugene's screams snap Rapunzel out of it immediately, but it's too late, and his arm is burnt

- it's... a brutal return to reality for both of them. It would honestly be the first thing happening between them that can't be fixed by love and communication, I think. The first thing that isn't really fixable anyway. Eugene can't get past the pain enough to comfort Rapunzel like he usually does, and Rapunzel is too horrified by what she did to think rationally about this. Cassandra and her are still fighting, Lance is Eugene's friend before being hers, and suddenly she feels completely isolated because the one person who's always in her corner is the one she hurt so badly, and she has no one to turn to when she doesn't know what to do with her guilt

- Eugene is not in the mood to communicate, he's hurting on many levels because being good with his hands, being able to, idk, pick locks and being agile... it's a big part of his identity, and he can't do that anymore. I think he'd have way more trouble adapting to his disability, and he doesn't want to take his resentment on Rapunzel, but that means he's kinda avoiding her obvious attempts at talking because he just does Not have the energy required for that. I'm not a fan of how callous they made Rapunzel in RDO before forgetting about that all together, but the idea of her being so unable to deal with the crushing guilt that she turns it into anger is interesting so... idk, I don't see her straight out blaming Eugene for his injury, but she could be like "i'm trying to talk to you and you're ignoring me, and we can't fix this if you're doing that"

- In this context btw I think RDO with the both of them would have a completely different vibe, because Eugene would wish for Rapunzel to forget everything so it can become less complicated between them again, but... seeing her back in the mindset she was when he met her is a slap in the face for him. He doesn't want her to think she's still in an abusive situation, he doesn't want her to be afraid to be herself, and everything might not always be sunshines and rainbows between them, but all he wants is for her to be happy and free to do everything she wants. He loves Rapunzel with all his heart, he loves that she's allowed to make mistakes and grow from them and... well, he loves fresh-out-of-the-tower Rapunzel too, but he has seen her be so much more, and he never wants to be the one to take his freedom to think from her. When her memories return, they talk about it, and she apologies for blaming him when she just didn't know how to reach out to him, and they just... try to communicate better their feelings, even if they're complicated

- Lost and Found kinda helps resolve this in a way, because that's truly the moment when Eugene realises that, no matter what, he has faith in Rapunzel. She's the one who's surprised by that actually, because how could he have faith in her when her mistake cost him so much? But as much as he knows that love isn't always enough to fix problems, he also know that he trusts her, never stopped doing it, and that it's not going to change any time soon. If she messes up again, he wants to be there for her, and that faith gives Rapunzel the confidence she had been missing since TGT

#honestly i had also an idea about hector being the one burnt (since he's the most likely to be without intervention) #but i am fundamentally weak and i love to see my favourite character everywhere asgdhjd #i'm not mad about eugene being deliberately taken out of the scene in RATGT because it proves Rapunzel had to make a choice quickly #or he was seriously at risk #but you can't tell me 'we had to make him unconscious or he wouldn't have left' and expect me not to think about the what if scenario 👀 #thanks for the ask this was a fun one!! #tangled #Eugene Fitzherbert #Rapunzel #ask game

[erazonpo3]

hey look ma i made a map (not to scale please and thank you)

This is something I had fun playing around with on Inkarnate and it’s still liable to change in some ways but I’m generally happy with it! The idea was to make a map that extends beyond Corona to include all sorts of named regions from disney properties (and some of my own), but also be compliant with TTS (for the most part. I’m not responsible for in-universe incongruences for one thing). 

Side note: I made a Spreadsheet with all of the named Disney kingdoms that appear in extended media (like books and comics n stuff) so that I could nab them and cry ‘it’s canon whatever mom’ but more so I didn’t have to come up with names. You’re welcome to peruse it and use it as a resource too! it’s all disney props

To go into a bit more detail; 

Canon stuff

A majority of the map is me trying to keep the S2 journey in mind, with stops like Lumbard’s Pass and the Forest of No Return being necessitated by mountain ridges etc that would make detours around them a huge pain in the ass. For instance, it’s faster to reach the spire from Corona by flying over Kresten Loch, so the spire needs to be positioned in a way that it would be a straight line from Corona but requires a trip through the FoNR by foot. 

In Freebird Rapunzel mentions the “cliffs of Koto” so I took that for them being either in Koto or adjacent to it. Then in King Pascal Eugene mentions the black rock path leads them to the water/ocean, so that necessitated this huge bight in the land where they can then get knocked off-course to Terapi Island. More mountains because why in the hell would they go through Lumbard’s Pass + The Great Tree if there was easy access any other way? And yeah they could go by ocean but I figure the caravan just isn’t meant for open sea travel for very long, and shipping a caravan across a long voyage is a steep price even for a Princess. 

I know this does make travel between Koto and Blavenia virtually impossible but whatever. There probably are plenty of travel paths but most of them require mules and you don’t take a caravan. Anyway then they reach Skoteníyi which is what I’ve named the Dark Kingdom (It’s based on a headcanon I won’t get into now), and then of course Rapunzel + co minus Cass fly back to Corona via hot air balloon. 

The obvious thing here is that technically the distance between Corona and the Dark Kingdom isn’t particularly far, but the terrain is awful to travel by foot/wagon which is why the S2 journey takes as long as it does. Extra notes are that Lost Lagoon lists Yultadore, Dionda and Antipe as kingdoms that lie on Corona’s border so I squeezed them in where I could. 

My touches to the map

Points where I’ve put my personal spin on things is largely in the geography of all the regions surrounding the S2 journey and how those mountain ranges might affect/inform the geopolitics etc. I put in some big mountains encircling Corona which makes the wall a very strong strategic piece of defensive infrastructure, which only makes sense if Yultadore + Bayangor + Dionda were historically its rivals. 

Bayangor has since allied itself with Corona but maybe doesn’t get as much help as it would like. As you’ll see in my 2nd pic of the map I’ve outlined the 7 Kingdom Alliance as per the named kingdoms in Beginnings, and notable exceptions to this alliance are Yultadore + Vakretta and Equis. So Yultadore + Vakretta get to be historic rivals of Corona, and Equis gets left out because nobody likes King Trevor. (I definitely wanted to have Equis on a peninsula that’s landlocked entirely by Corona to say that yeah, this kingdom does have sovereignty but only because Corona lets it exist and they all know it). 

The 7 Kingdom Alliance in this verse is necessitated, I imagine, by how god damn terrible travel is through the northern half of this region and if Corona (one of the strongest trade regions by dint of connecting the north to the south) wants to make a trade pact with you in return for some political pressure, then you’re sure as hell going to take it. Another fun tidbit is that the Dark Kingdom is so far across the continent from Corona and so difficult to reach it sort of does make sense why Corona just. Forgot about it. 

(Note also that while a lot of the land in Skoteiníyi is infertile, there are edges on the border that are free for the taking by its border friends. Have fun with that, Edmund.) Refugees probably headed south to Yuwabe and Zaria as less hostile/difficult regions and spread from there, which is why Adira and Hector can be found wandering the southern half of the continent in the CTA AU. 

I’ve also spoken about the region of Eltaire-Sère before as the region in which Ilione lives, and I’ve settled on it being in Dionda- which now places Dionda as Corona’s south-eastern rival. As you can see there’s mountains almost completely encircling the region so it’s nearly impossible to stage military battles there so it just gets passed back and forth in treaties, and as of current TTS the region belongs to Corona even though it’s actually outside the wall and looks like it should belong to Dionda. Culturally, the region is a pretty strong blend of both Corona and Dionda (probably leaning more towards Diondan) so Lio gets two for one. 

Cassandra’s (first) journey

I’ve mapped out Cass’ journey in blue and it’s not really set in stone because I care less about the where of where she’s going and more about what’s happening there, but nevertheless I wanted it to be visually distinct from the S2 journey which is why she travels south before making a stop at Terapi Isle (hello Lady Caine funny seeing you here) and finally catching up with Alphecca in her homeland of Vakretta. It’s also worth mentioning here that one of the upsides to being a Lich in this verse as opposed to a ghost is that there’s no limits on where Alphecca can physically travel, and she spends a lot of time wandering around which is why Cass first runs into her in Jeojin/Yirov.  

I haven’t figured out as much on the geography of the southern section of the continent because unlike the S2 journey I can do whatever the hell I want with it, so I have full creative control but also I don’t have any markers like “Cass HAS to pass through here so make a detour impossible”. Nevertheless I like that the southern part of the continent is largely flat; compared to the northern half travelling is a breeze, which means the timeline is simply up to however long I want Cassandra to spend in one place. 

I figure in her 2nd journey she heads up north towards our dear friends in Arendelle as she travels around Sídiros (Iron Kingdom) in what coincides with Varian’s journey, but I haven’t really figured out what that’d look like yet. 

Varian 7K stuff

Timeline-wise Varian’s journey doesn’t start until Cassandra gets back from her 1st journey. Nevertheless I’ve mapped it out because I like being able to visualise it, and it lets me work in the 7 Trial Kingdoms into the map and worldbuilding. 

Jeojin is the “Fire Kingdom”, Dovena is the “Water Kingdom”, and Ardhyewa is the Air Kingdom. I didn’t want Cass and Varian’s journey to completely overlap, but Cass does visit Jeojin on her way out of Dionda and she hits up Ardhyewa to give Nuru + Ara a cameo. Torres is actually one of the named disney properties but I figured it’d make a perfect “Earth Kingdom”. Varian then travels through Yuwabe to hit the Dark Kingdom and then Sídiros as the “Iron Kingdom”, and the outline never mentions how the hell they get back to Corona from there so I figure they probably double back to the Dark Kingdom in which an air balloon is waiting for them. Idk it’s not my problem. 

A fun fact is that Varian’s journey intersects with Cass’ 2nd journey in the Iron Kingdom/Sídiros, in Solanales- if you’re familiar, Solanales is where the Countess Violante rules. Cue Cass trying her damn hardest to shuffle these kids THE HELL out of dodge. Countess Violante is also one of Donella’s biggest rivals in terms of her crusade against the IK aristocracy, so Cass + Donella work together in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation, which is of course hilarious when Varian assumes Cass has turned evil again because she’s working with 'the bad guy’ of his journey. 

He thinks she’s evil again and she’s like do you want Violante to commit a genocide hello??? funny stuff

Conclusion

so anyway thats it i love talking geopolitics

#cta au #uuuuh idk how else to tag this

[astratic]

Cass has trouble setting boundaries which seems kind of weird for someone as aggressive and prickly as she is but I kind of think that's WHY like... She does not know how to civilly communicate when something is upsetting her and that's why she ends up snapping over and over when someone finally pushes her too far.

I keep thinking about this in the context of beginnings, because that episode will live in my brain forever I guess, and how enchanted I am with the portrayal of their dynamic....

Here we have Cass, being presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, basically everything she's ever wanted—and the way she goes about it is genuinely manipulative. But you can't really blame her, right—Rapunzel is a princess. If she took a whim, she could ruin Cass's life. WE know she wouldn't, but Cass doesn't, and frankly she's very reasonable in that position. She can't imagine being honest with Rapunzel about why she wants to win the contest because there's no way she would take it well!

It's so agonizing to watch because Rapunzel is also reasonable in feeling hurt that Cass was pretending to be her friend, but Rapunzel is also, like, horrifically ignorant of the imbalance of power in their relationship, and Cass has basically no recourse to articulate this. Ever.

It's also not really Rapunzel's FAULT that she is ignorant of the power dynamics frankly—imagine being isolated your entire life and then immediately dropped into a position of immense power and privilege but at the same time still having your every move controlled and policed. That's such a fraught situation to parse for someone still literally just trying to figure out what it means to have friends.

And that's the thing right like—to Rapunzel, Cass is just another girl. She is her friend, she likes swords and animals and she's kind of guarded but that's what is so compelling about her. Meanwhile to Cass, Rapunzel is, first and foremost, the Princess.

Cass sacrificing the contest for Rapunzel is kind of a microcosm of her boundary issues tbh because, like, Rapunzel has no idea HOW MUCH she is asking for, and Cass doesn't know how to tell her. Rapunzel takes from this memory that their friendship is very important to Cass, and that's why she did it, and that's true. But she fails to see why it was also painful and unfair for Cass and that dynamic's role in driving her to literally become a supervillain. I so badly wanted Rapunzel to EVER have that realization, but she didn't. I think it would have made their reconciliation a lot more meaningful.

Cass really struggles with the ability to say no to Rapunzel, both because Rapunzel holds power over her, but also because Rapunzel is not good at intuiting her reasons, and she is unable to articulate them herself. This defines a lot of their relationship throughout season 2—with Cass becoming ever more aware of the divide between them as she chafes at it with the taste of freedom leaving Corona has given her.

Because also, it's not really stated, but I think we can pretty much assume that this is also the first time Cass has really been "out" in the world for an extended period of time. She loves Rapunzel and wants what their relationship could be if they weren't a princess and her servant—but they are, as she is so harshly reminded at the Great Tree. And Rapunzel, even as she is doing the harsh reminding, is still ignorant of how it's hurting her—except now, Cass knows Rapunzel can and will use her power over her.

#journal entry #tangled #cassunzel #Cassandra #cassraps

[neokonewman]

Honestly? I think what tangled failed to do was make sure characters had good chemistry as friends. Seriously Cass and Rapunzel where like crude oil and the ocean. One single match from destruction. Season one is bottom barrel because it goes out of it's way to excuse Frederick for his shit. Season two was actually really good because Rapunzel was still herself and was making tough choices left and right. Season 3? Ohhhh boy. Season 3 was a half good half bad because while I do applaud her trying to bring her friend back into the fold? Cassandra wasn't wrong when she said "this has to stop now. This thing where you THINK you've been my friend". Cuz as far as I could tell? They were never friends. Hell even when being a slow burn villain, Varian had better friend chemistry with Rapunzel. When the show expects me to swallow "Cass and I are besties.and sisters!" whole sale? I'm not buying it.

Oooooh boy! This ask is just dripping with potential rant power. Sorry in advance for how long this answer is destinied to be!

First things first. I absolutely agree with you on how badly TTS handles chemistry amongst the main characters. Cass gets the worst of it because she is shoehorned as Rapunzel’s BFF off screen and suddenly she has equal sway on Rapunzel as Eugene? Her character can’t even be allowed to breathe most of the time because the show is obsessed with sticking her next to Rapunzel to the point that she can’t grow any further away from her. At least other show original characters like Lance and Varian have an actual introduction and a place in the world outside of Rapunzel, but even then they suffer because Rapunzel is upfront and center and there is very little wiggle room for interactions that don’t have at least have some involvement with her. It’s here where our opinions differ however.

I would make the bold claim by sayin that S1 of TTS is by far and away the best out of the three. Yes it has the glaring flaw of bias for Frederic and against Varian that makes me question whether or not it should be considered “good” but it’s much better balanced than the other two seasons that follow it. In S1 we actually get character who aren’t Rapunzel more chances to shine without her stealing the spotlight away at the last moment. In S1 we actually have an actual conflict that drives the story forward and at least pretends to care about developing the characters. Even the obnoxious bias could have still worked out in the shows favor if they were ever properly addressed in story and not swept under the rug like they were in later seasons. Heck, I would go as far as to argue that the worst parts of S1 is the fact that S2 and S3 make it worse retroactively.

S2 in my opinion is the dullest of the three, by a wide margin. With them never addressing what the mains left behind in S1 as well as taking the threat of the rocks away WAY too early, the conflict is particularly nonexistent. Not only that, but it does what I think is the worst thing a show can do during a season long journey. They never actually develop the world outside of Corona. They established that there are 6 other kingdoms in the alliance with Corona, but the most we get of any of them is the one throwaway line about them being close to the mountains of Koto in Freebird. Other than that we overstay in three separate places that end up being worthless to the plot as a whole. After spending three episodes in Vardaros right out the bat, we never return or what’s become of them afterwards. Them mains stranded on the Island is pretty dull and is only memorable to me because they had the guts of mentioning Varian again and established that Rapunzel STILL has an unhealthily delusional bias for Frederic despite of everything. The House of Yesterday’s tomorrow is just an excuse of shoehorning a bunch of magical hijink cliches that aren’t done very interesting. Heck, despite them spending a whole season getting to the Dark Kingdom, they only spend an episode and a half there and only a single night in universe. The rest of S2 is just filler that don’t even develop the characters or tell any interesting stories. Like, an enchanted forest episode even though the mid season finale takes place in another enchanted forest? A repeat of the first part of Tangled the movie with Cass replacing Eugene? Whatever the heck “Curses” was supposed to accomplish? The only thing interesting that S2 introduces is the Brotherhood, and we all know how little they are used afterwards.

I would also like to point out that at the start of S2, the mains just…. Stop developing almost entirely? Cass and Eugene never have any meaningful moments together like they do in S1, and are reduced to just taking potshots at each other to remind us that they have some sort of relationship. Lance is reduced strictly to comedic relief and in my opinion is just there to give Eugene something to do when he is removed from the plot because once again, the show is obsessed with making Rapunzel and Cass’ friendship be a thing that only matters. Hookfoot is just there to give his stand up routine about how marriage is terrible in the first episode of the season and just to exist afterwards, yet he SOMEHOW gets actual episodes focused on him while Lance suffers. Even characters properly introduced this season are cursed to never flesh out because Adira keeps pulling a vanishing act for no established reason, Hector is only gets any lines in his debut episode and never given any real focus again, and Edmund gets the same treatment as the other dads (except maybe Captain) by getting his entire character reduced to one trope later on in S3. Speaking of…

S3…. Ooooh boy S3. It’s not as boring as S2 for me, but that’s only because it’s a media equivalent of a train wreck that I couldn’t look away from. It’s like they took the two major issues of the past two seasons (the clear bias and shallow filler) and mashed them together while trying to savage it by inserting what worked in S1, (actual conflict) but completely missed the point why it worked in the first place. All pretense of caring about any other character other than Rapunzel and Cass is gone in this season. Even episodes that focus on anyone outside of Rapunzel, ends up ending with Rapunzel saving the day because she is the only one allowed to be heroic anymore.

They try to make Cass’ villain arc as complex as Varian’s but for some reason they think her blaming a literal baby for being kidnapped is enough grounds to go on a murder streak without one episode of hesitation. Lance is just there for bottom barrel dumb humor, yet the show thinks he is responsible enough to raise two kids on his own. Varian falls into the pigeon hole of just being the “kid character that hangs with the grown up mains” trope that he managed to avoid in S1 while also being just a plot device to not only give the mains access to tech, but also get shoehorned into scenes to keep the audience somewhat invested. Eugene is literal retconned in universe to be just a bland supportive boyfriend. Rapunzel, my gosh Rapunzel…. She treated is so painfully “perfect” to the point that she is completely unrelated. I’m not calling her a Mary Sue because they only ACT like she is perfect. She is still a hugely flawed human being, but the other characters just applaud her because she is “the magical, wonderous sundrop” and very little else. Also yes, Rapunzel being obsessed over Cass while playing off all the horrible actions her BFF as her being lost is the most frustrating thing ever. It’s as if she became Frederic from S1 and abandoned everyone else well being in favor of one person who doesn’t even want her attention, only worse because it’s made into a good thing. Again, S1 is made retroactively worse because of the seasons that follow it.

There is much more things wrong with S3 than S2, but honestly I find myself changing my mind a lot whether which one is objectively worse. Like making a show boring is arguably the worst thing you can do, but the choices, morals, and all around writing of S3 is just bad. Then again the writing in S2 is honestly pretty on par with S3 at times, so again, it’s a toss up.

Sorry again if this answer is a lot, but it was pretty fun at the same time. Thanks for the ask. ^^

#long post #tangled criticism #tangled discourse #negativity #negative #not tagging the main tags anymore to avoid spamming #discourse mention #also cass and rapunzel are just not sisters #not even in a sisters from another mister sense #it’s okay to just be friends with your friends #heck i would argue whether or not they should be even considered friends at all sometimes #neo muses #neo rants #neo answers #jade-rosepine

[theangrycomet]

Comparing KO’s (OK KO) Character Arc to Cassandra’s (TTS)

Ok THIS^ actually bothers me and I really hope it’s a shit-post. Sorry, @astratic, but you have inadvertently signed up for some Character Analysis.

Let’s establish one critical difference between Cassandra and KO before we really dig into this shall we?

Cassandra is a fully developed, fully functional adult roughly in her early to mid twenties.

KO is a CHILD, who’s age is literally 6-11, though fans typically agree that he acts in the 8-9 range. Additionally, he is commonly head cannoned to be on the Autistic Scale and/or ADHD.

Because of this, their decisions and actions need to be seen through different lenses.

Point 1: work tirelessly to become a hero like [parent] who you idolize

KO:

This statement perfectly depicts KO’s goals. KO strives to be a hero in order to help people to the best of his abilities. He hates being useless and powerless to help his friends, so he trains to be a better hero and works through his struggles with their help. He lives to be like his mommy and his father-figure. I mean, look at him when Gar praises KO and tells him how proud he is of him.

Cassandra:

Cassandra’s goals are different. She wants to be a guard at the end of the day for glory. She wants people to see and acknowledge her abilities and strength and admire her for it.

Yes, making her dad proud is a benefit of that, but that is NOT her driving motivation.

Point 2: Become discourage by lack of progress and hindrance by social status

KO:

Social status was NEVER KO’s problem. His stalling in progress, as I mentioned in another post, was a mental block. He couldn’t tap into his power He came from lower middle, working class family with a single mom.

Cassandra:

Social Status was her problem, but only up until the 1st season finale where she was placed as Captain of the Guard.

She had regular progress in getting more time and respect as a royal guard. The fact that She CHOSE to leave that behind in order to follow her crush on some half-baked, unplanned road trip is only the fault of her own. She threw out the chance she had been waiting for for her entire life to follow Rapunzel.

And than was given numerous opportunities through out the trip to leave and pursue other goals. 

Point 3. Be Mentally Ill

Okay, first OP, you could phrased that WAY better. 

Secondly, the mental struggles our characters face are completely different and largely incomparable so to group the two is insulting to both characters.

KO: 

Disassociative Identity Disorder (or multiple personality disorder) 

Possible Undiagnosed Autism and or ADHD

KO develops Disassociative Identity Disorder, due to his frustration at lack of progress, the manipulation of Shadowy figure, and his bottling up of negative emotions. KO is mostly unaware of what happens when TKO is in charge and vice-versa. It took the two a long time to figure out how to work together and eventually merge back into one personality. 

He also demonstrates some traits typically associated with Autism and ADHD, though some of those could be on account of his age. It is a common head cannon amongst fans that his either and sometimes both. 

Cassandra:

Cassandra doesn’t have to deal with any mental illness until the season 3 finale where it can be gleamed that she’s working through depression if you squint at it. 

Yes, there is the Blueberry Ghost, but she was never a result of Cass’ mental state so much as her being host to the Moon Stone. 

Her struggles lie in reigning in her anger and her pride so that she can see problems from unbiased perspectives and apologize for her actions. And that is left still unresolved by the time the finale comes around. 

Point 4. find out long lost parent is actually horrifically villainous and have a whole crisis about it.

Perhaps, we need a little reminder here before I dig into this one:

KO is a child figuring himself out and Cassandra is an adult figuring out what she wants in life.

KO:

KO had been struggling with his darker side for quite some time before he asked his Mom about who exactly his dad was. 

This was something the show had demonstrated time after time that bothered KO, not knowing who his dad was.

So he finds out his dad was this big time hero, and gets reassurance from that fact that he comes from great heroes, so he too can be a hero. Only for that to be immediately tossed out the window when it’s revealed that the only person he hates in the entire world, the person he dubs as the truly evil villain, is actually his father. 

His whole world is not only shook to its core, but his self-confidence as well. Laserblast was a great hero who turned villain; what does that mean for a hero-in-training whose already struggling with that darker side. 

Praise Carol for not killing PV on the spot. 

Additionally, PV didn’t actually know KO even existed until a few months before this incident, and wasn’t even sure if KO was his kid (KO does coincidentally share a lot of Physical attributes to Gar) until KO came busting in, wearing Laserblast’s helmet and bragging about how his dad was a great hero.

So when they attempted to have that father-son relationship, it was as awkward and strained as it should have been. (I’ll get to the OK KO Finale in just a minute)

Cassandra:

Cass could have cared less as to whom her real parents were. She had her dad. She had her goals. She had her job. Who her parents were and why they dumped her on the Captain was irrelevant to her life. 

She didn’t care until Season 3, and that whole season was OOC for everybody, 

Even then, it wasn’t so much as a crisis so much as an excuse to use to fight Rapunzel. It didn’t matter that Gothel was her mother, it mattered that Gothel picked the Sundrop over her. Which in all honesty was the best thing that could have happened to Cass.

Her “crisis” revolved around a dead woman’s shattered legacy more than her mother. 

Point 5: Fall under the influence of said Villainous parental figure

KO TKO: (again, a CHILD)

TKO was used and manipulated into letting his darker side show by Professor Venomous/ Shadowy Figure, (this is my opinion), in order to actually have something they could relate to eachother on. 

Yes, Shadowy Venomous saw TKO as more of his tool for power, but you can’t deny that he wasn’t motivated to have his son by his side. 

Additionally, KO had at this point literally locked away a part of himself because he didn’t have the tools to deal TKO with this mentally or emotionally. So he responded the best way he could and pushed the problem down so he and others wouldn’t have to keep cleaning up TKO’s messes.  

KO was in desperate need for someone to understand how he was and how to help him.

And guess who was there.

Cassandra: (again, an ADULT)

Cass was never led on by Gothel, she was led on by Zhan Tiri.

Cass was delusioned that the moonstone was hers by Zhan Tiri just as much as Rapunzel was delusioned into thinking stopping the moonstone was her destiny by Demanitus. 

However, Zhan Tiri really didn’t make Cass do anything, she never pushed her past the breaking point, she never forced her to do anything. 

Baked Ziti only prompted Cass, reminding her what she was angry at. 

Cass was perfectly capable of ignoring her and doing her own thing. 

Point 6: suddenly and dramatically betray everyone you love even as they plead with you to stop. Become convinced they all hate you except for [villainous parental figure] who is actually just manipulating you to gain power.

This point is actually a very good description of what happened to both, given different contexts. Again, remember that KO is a child who is significantly more easily influenced than Cass should have been.

(Note: again, Zhan Tiri’s not her Parental figure and neither was Gothel)

Point 7: ruin everything and destroy your home

KO TKO:

His destructive rampage was motivated by the betrayal of the one person he believed to understand and support him entirely. He was literally grabbed by the shirt, lifted in the air, told he was nothing more than a tool at best, and that the plan to conquest together had been a lie. 

Wonder where I’ve seen THAT BEFORE?

(Sorry about the low photo Quality, I quickly search and screen shotted so)

(yes it’s this scene that made me think Mad Ben and TKO would get along)

Cassandra:

Which betrayal are we talking about? Because both involve trained guards rightfully attacking Cass for injuring the crown royalty and wrecking the castle.

Point 8/9: snap out of it at the last second and be horrified at what you've wrought/ the world is fixed by an incredible magic. Reconcile with your loved ones. Flourish

KO: 

This is accurate. 

But KO didn’t have to lose his power to see how bad he messed up. He was actually at the top of his game. He probably could have taken out the President of the Universe if he really wanted to. Instead he begged for everything to get fixed, and wished that EVERYONE (even Professor Venomous) could live their best lives. 

Cassandra:

She was only repentent AFTER she lost her power. Even then, she does not apologize for her actions but rather the circumstances and ONLY to Rapunzel herself. She does not care that she caused a world catastrophe, and still wouldn’t have had she won. 

With how it was executed, Cass did NOT deserve such an easy redemption. She should have had to work at it. She should have at least attempted to apologize to the people whose lives she ruined. To the people she’s hurt. Not just Rapunzel. Rapunzel has no right to forgive her in place of everyone else. 

Eugene should not have to forgive her.

Varian should not have to forgive her.

The Brotherhood honestly deserves to fight her in combat. 

She should not have been able to ride off into the sunset and avoid the consequences of her actions. 

BUT I digress. 

IN SUMMARY:

KO and Cass, while they share some similarities, do NOT have the same Character Arc. At all.

Sincerely, 

TheAngryComet

#I was enraged when I read this #Ok KO Let's be Heroes #OK KO #KO #TKO #MKO #Kaio Kincaid #Professor Venomous #Shadowy Figure #LaserBlast #Shadowy Venomous #Mr.Gar #Gar #Eugene Garcia #El Bow #Carol Kincaid #Silver Sparks #Carol Garcia #Tangled the Series #TTS #Rapunzel #Cassandra #Moon!Cass #Moon Cassandra #Lightly Salted #Erm.. #okay more than a little #Salty #Salt #Character Analysis