#these are all very real aspects of abuse that are also bigtime Loser Behavior

[edoro]

Ngl I'm starting to feel like a nonzero amount of the fandom reaction towards Cazador, the general trend of "oh he actually isn't scary or intimidating at all, he's a whiny sniveling little bitch baby and it's embarrassing Astarion was so scared of him because of how non-threatening and laughable he is" is hmmm

maybe a bit based in the racist de-masculinization of Asian men and the way that they are often seen as impotent, weak, and incapable of being threatening?

#and i mean i don't disagree that he's a loser #or that his sneering line delivery isn't extremely punchable #HOWEVER #he also is... deeply cruel in a very targeted and personal way #a sadist who dresses it up in the guise of Family #obsessive about his victims and playthings #and hungry for even more power which he WILL use to hurt people #which actually is pretty fucking frightening even if he's also slender and small and young-looking and pretty #i do think some of it is intentional - his obsession with Astarion #his grasping for power and inflated sense of self-importance #his persistent charade of a family and how he uses terror to force his victims to go along with it #these are all very real aspects of abuse that are also bigtime Loser Behavior #and the fact that the person who has the power to hurt and control you is an insecure megalomaniacal self-obsessed loser is part of #the humiliation of this type of abuse #but i also just saw a 'scarier redesign' of cazador that was just straight up A White Man so you know.