My hot take of the day is that although Max is the mastermind of what happened in The Lost Boys, he isn’t some abusive figure who manipulates, abuses and brainwashes the boys like the fandom thinks he is and that the boys are just innocent pawns who don’t know any better and are forced to partake in his plan. I think people came to that conclusion just because he told them they’re not allowed in the store and was mean about it but people fail to realize that
1. The boys bring unwanted attention and Max’s entire thing is that he wants to be perceived as a normal person and not have his cover blown
2. If you were a parent and your bad ass kids who constantly cause trouble came to your job you’d tell them to leave too
My main point is that The Boys are assholes, Max is an asshole, they’re all assholes and it’s fine. You don’t have to turn the boys into brainless little abused puppets who are being mind controlled, abused and manipulated by Max to try to justify what they did. Like I’m pretty sure when they weren’t ordered by Max to kill all those people they killed before meeting the Emersons, like the security guard or when David wanted Star to kill Michael (before it was known that she was the son of the woman Max wanted to be their mother), or Michael’s hazing ritual in general.
Like no one’s going to fault you for loving them as the assholes that they are. You don’t have to turn them into “uwu poor wittle babies” , it’s okay to love them as assholes.