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tonotbelionized · 5 years

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The Mentality of Adam Taurus

Note: Before I start on this post, I would just like to say this point. This is not a post that excuses or tries to downplay Adam’s behaviour and abuse of Blake, as well as his actions against the people around him. I simply wanted to write what was going on in his mind and delve deeper into this psychology with help of someone who actually has a degree in it!

Adam Taurus is most certainly a hated character in the FNDM and the show, and for good reason. He’s manipulative, violent, and abusive terrorist and wishes genocide and subjugation on innocent people. His actions have severe effects not only on his main victim, Blake, but Yang Xiao Long, the cutting off her arm by him leaving her with PTSD and exhaustion from her trauma.

But how exactly did he end up to be this person?

It’s very much the argument of not only nature vs nurture but also how underlying mental issues can impact on someone through the years. We’ll see through Adam’s history and see how the events of the past have had an affect not only on Adam, but the cycle of abuse in relation to his character.

Adam’s Childhood in the SDC

Adam’s childhood has never been shown or explored in canon material, so much so that we don’t know at what age he was branded, escaped or even joined the White Fang, but we at least have some idea from what we’ve seen in RWBY and in other materials.

From his theme song; Lionized, and what Blake had given about the treatment of the Faunus under the SDC, we can safely assume that Adam’s childhood in the dust mines was not that of a normal childhood. His own parents were never mentioned, whether they were there at all or dead is unknown, but that would leave Adam in a very poor situation; no positive role models and people to teach him important lessons.

A child needs positive role models in their life because it’s through the people around them that the child learns not only how to act when around other people, but also how to behave in society as a whole. If that role model is not a positive influence, or even there at all, then the child is left either learning that toxic behaviours are okay or having to learn lessons themselves. This just increases the risk of the child learning the wrong lessons, but also has them landing hard when they failure without the adult there to cushion the consequences of the child messing up.

In the working environment of the SDC, Adam was probably raised in an environment that is extremely damaging to a child. His primary source of socialization, a role that is given to parents and siblings in a family dynamic, is not there in Adam’s case because all the workers are on the same level with the superiors of the company above them in a position of power that is canonically abused. This would leave Adam alone with no one around him to teach him like a parent would, and so he has had to stumble around while growing up in a home where someone would be abused severely if they did something wrong.

This culminates in his branding. The reasons behind his branding are unknown, but he has said that people have hurt him before, in all different ways, so it’s likely that this branding was done specifically to hurt Adam. This is an incredibly painful lesson for a minor to learn, and because of this isolation that Adam suffered from previously is never resolved, he would have had to deal with this traumatic experience alone. Eventually, it was just buried and never properly dealt with in a healthy way to allow Adam to move on from it.

This isolation stemmed from his childhood explains his behaviour later on in life. Adam had no one to rely on, he had no concrete role models to learn from or to be taught important lessons as he grew up, and this meant that when he eventually found someone that he loved, Blake, he treated the relationship in a toxic and abusive way.

First Years in the White Fang

Adam had been in the White Fang for longer enough that he saw Ghira in charge, before he stepped down five years before the start of the series. Most of his years during this time is shown in his character short just before Volume 6′s release,and it’s where we’ll be looking at most for this part of the topic.

It’s unknown how old Adam was when he joined the White Fang, but he had already been branded by the time he did so. All throughout the short, we are shown how he changes over the years with his mental state and past trauma affecting him, as well as the events that happen to him. With the White Fang, Adam is finally in a group where he’s on equal ground with everyone except Ghira and Sienna, who are both in a position of power over the rest of White Fang members.

His sense of identity had been brought down from his time in the SDC as a worker, especially with his dehumanization because of his Faunus heritage, and it’s a problem in the White Fang that continues. He isn’t now seen as his own person, but rather a part of an overall group, and both Sienna and Ghira actually don’t seem to care enough to change this fact. In fact, both their behaviour would likely confused Adam even more just because of how contradictory they are.

This isn’t to say that they are at fault for Adam becoming a monster. His actions are his own, but I found it interesting on the effect it would have on him with how both leaders treated him. All of Ghira’s shown interactions with Adam have been negative reinforcement, and it comes at a time where we see that Adam actually isn’t as violent as he would be later on in his life. He handled all the humans attacking the Faunus group in an effective non-life threatening way, the only life he takes comes when he had no other choice, and he would believe that it’s the only way he can protect Ghira.

So when Ghira chastises him for doing so, Adam’s body language shows that he’s actually ashamed of what he did. His head is hung low, his shoulders are down and he doesn’t look up at Ghira. I noticed while watching that Ghira doesn’t actually explain why Adam’s actions were wrong in a way that Adam would take in, he’s more angry and scolding rather than calmly explaining. Going off what we said about Adam not having someone in his early life teaching him right from wrong and explaining why he couldn’t do certain things, it shows just why Adam doesn’t seem to take the advice to heart after that.

I’m not saying that it’s Ghira’s responsibility to teach Adam because of his age and the fact that he isn’t Ghira’s son, but I am saying that this behaviour does have an effect on Adam nonetheless. If Ghira doesn’t explain something in a constructive way, how is Adam supposed to learn a lesson that he’s never been taught?

All of a sudden, Sienna’s positive reinforcement completely contradicts what Ghira is saying. All of a sudden what Adam did was right rather than wrong, and he is clearly surprised that people who previously did nothing when Ghira told him off were cheering what Adam did. He would definitely stick to any positive interaction he can get, and that’s why he goes to Sienna over Ghira. Both of these would no doubt confuse him even more because they both validate and invalidate his actions at the same time, and without the emotional maturity that he should have at that age,

I’d also like to add that his mask also adds to the dehumanization Adam feels, and it’s telling that he continues to wear it even when he’s in the White Fang, a place he’s supposedly among allies and fellow Faunus. Him pushing other Faunus to wear them could be Adam pushing his own dehumanization onto others, as well as the obvious implication that he’s ashamed of his scar.

Egotistical and Egocentric

There are plenty of characters that I would call egotistical, most of all Jacques, but I do have to explain the differences in which egotistical and egocentric are used and how it applies to Adam.

Egotistical is a person who is excessively conceited or obsessed with themselves. It’s basically someone who thinks of themselves in high regard.

Egocentric is a person who thinks more of themselves in terms of their problems, showing an inability to take into other peoples’ accounts.

Because of this, egotistical is more self-importance while egocentric is more isolationist, and I would use the term egocentric to describe Adam as opposed to egotistical. His whole problem is what Blake told Sun in Volume 5, that Adam had been so hurt in the past that he can no longer see past that trauma and would instead hurt the world in the exact same way. He’s grown spiteful and believes that his problems are the only ones that matter, and that everyone else who’ve suffered are weak and pathetic.

Adding onto that, the term egocentric is also applied to the period in a child’s life, usually between the ages of 2 - 7, where they have a very black and white view of the world in which they’re the only one that matters. Reading into Adam’s behaviour and words later in his life, and I can pretty safely say that he’s never been raised out of that part of his life because of his situation. This stage going into the White Fang where he’s now being praised for his actions doesn’t push Adam to grow out of it, and we’re now left with a man who reacts violently when people challenge those same decisions.

If we start looking at his actions with these points in mind, then it makes his character and mindset much more interesting.

Foil to Yang & Their Relationship to Blake

Adam serves as a foil to multiple people in RWBY; Sun Wukong, Ilia Amitola, and Yang Xiao Long. Because of the other two either not having a deep enough backstory form to compare, or being a less major character story wise, I will be focusing solely on the foil between Adam and Yang.

Yang was very much raised in a normal household with Summer Rose and Taiyang, but even then it wasn’t completely happy after Summer’s disappearance and Taiyang’s depression. Despite this rough part of her life, Yang was still raised with a deeply mature outlook on life despite her seemingly carefree nature, she is deeply empathetic and is even the voice of reason during her time in Beacon. She understood that Ruby needed other people to bring her out of her shell, and was willing to given Blake a chance to explain after her revelation over being a Faunus. It’s clearly obvious that Taiyang, and Summer in her early years, had managed to raise Yang past that stage that Adam has been stuck in.

On the other hand, Adam didn’t have that same security in a family and was raised in a strictly abusive environment. This would have the effect on him not only knowing what healthy relationships looked like and believe that what was done to him is the right thing to do, but also meaning that Adam lacked that same maturity and empathy that Yang herself possesses. He’s unable to comprehend people who don’t think the same way that he does, and because of that he simply believes that their wrong in thinking that way.

It’s most apparent in his interaction with Blake during the fall of Beacon:

Blake: I never wanted this! I wanted equality! I wanted peace! Adam: What you wanted was impossible!

He can’t understand why Blake would want equality or peace with the humans, because that’s not what he wanted. In his mind, because her beliefs contradicted his own, that meant that Blake was wrong in thinking so and that what she wanted could never be achieved.

This difference in their raising continues on to how they both handle their similar fears; the fact that they don’t want to be left alone, and how this fear had then affected their relationship with Blake. Adam and Blake’s relationship was not only incredibly toxic and damaging for Blake, but only served as something that Adam could use to chain the one person he cared about to himself. His idea of love is emotional manipulation and gaslighting, and when the person of his affections acts out, he quickly shuts it down with shouting or physical violence, because that’s what’s been done to him when he did the same thing, and he had never learnt that behaving this way is not healthy.

That fear of being alone is in direct connection to the fact that when Adam had been severely traumatised, he was left to deal with the consequences alone. The thought that Blake would leave him in that situation would push him to do whatever he could to keep her with him, and when she ultimately left him, he couldn’t handle that isolation again and instead turned it to anger because he thought it was Blake’s fault for leaving, that it was her fault for not behaving or loving him enough. It’s very similar to Yang’s idea that everyone ultimately leaves them in the end, but it’s how they deal with this fear is what sets them apart so much.

Unlike Yang, Adam never got over this fear.

Yang herself had been shaped so much by people leaving her behind that she has severe abandonment issues, that like Adam she took Blake leaving her negatively because of this past trauma. However, unlike Adam’s reasonings being that it’s all Blake’s fault for leaving, Yang was only angry at Blake because she wasn’t told why she left, just like she never knew why her biological mother left either. Yang never thought that she had the right for Blake to stay, whereas Adam did.

Even with her abandonment issues, Yang is clearly miles better mentally than Adam even after her dismemberment and developing PTSD. She has never took out her frustrations on anyone around her, rather internalizing the problems and going on to help others, and even when she snaps at Weiss and Ruby in Volume 5, she’s clearly remorseful and goes to remove herself from the situation.

Adam does not know how to deal with fear, frustration or anger in a healthy way like Yang does, and because of this he instead takes it out on people in the way that it had been taken out on him, because that’s all he knows. He shows in knowledge in when he’s overstepped a boundary, and when he does, Adam shows no remorse in his actions. Even when he rarely apologizes for his behaviour, such as in his short, he does so in a way that the attention is brought back to him and his own problems in that egocentric manner.

I find it interesting in how they handle their decline in mental health. Whereas Adam keeps going down in this downward spiral, ultimately ending up in this place of isolation just like he was in the beginning, Yang ultimately pushed herself to recover and surrounded herself with her friends and family. She ends up in a better place with companionship to offset Adam’s isolation, and it’s this distinction that separates their relationship to Blake.

Adam’s relationship with her is now completely destroyed, and it ends with Blake finally killing Adam in self defense. Yang’s relationship with her is restored, and they both can start to recover after the trauma they both have suffered.

The Cycle of Abuse

Adam’s not the only character to portray this subject in RWBY, especially when Salem was given an entire episode where we saw what she went through and why she developed into this villain, but he was the first abuser to appear in the show with his debut in the Black Trailer.

Ultimately, he embodies the very real idea that a person who had been abused and hurt in the past is at risk of becoming that same abuser to another victim later on down the road. His branding and childhood in the SDC wasn’t an excuse for him to become the monster he did, but they did explain why his mind state had decayed to the point that we saw in the show.

I know that some people actually don’t really like his writing, and I will admit that at first I particularly didn’t, but after going through this post, I feel that at least his actions aren’t completely random or one-dimensional now. To me at least, they make sense given what he’s been through, and I believe that this is what makes him at least a competent villain in the writing sense even if some of his writing still doesn’t appeal to me.

That’s all I really have to say about this character. I likely have missed something in my jumbled notes, but honestly this is the basic jist of what I wanted to get across. Please, don’t take any of this as myself saying that everyone except Adam is responsible for his behaviour, because ultimately it was Adam’s decision to do all the things he did. I’m only offering explanations, never excuses.

Either way, thanks for reading this!

#rwby #crtq #adam taurus #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #ghira belladonna #sienna khan #I still don't know if I like how I've tried to get my views across but hopefully it's all good

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overlourdes · 4 years

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SHIPPING INFO // Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST. Don’t reblog.

(i’m mostly going to talk about lola in this --- because levi is married, and dr. fish is dr. fish (honestly he’s just not in the stage of his development as a character for me to really be ready to consider shipping). however, i’m still open to doing ship things with those two, mostly dr. fish, so if something comes up or whatever, i AM open to that. also --- i’m willing to rp lola at various ages and various AUs, which i feel is relevant.)

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?: i just really don’t have one. i don’t have any ships that are really very developed with lola. like, there are things that definitely exist and i enjoy, and that certainly have a lot of potential, but as is i’m not going to call anything an “otp” (also it’s 2020, we don’t say otp anymore).

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: development of a ship is really important to me. i don’t like to jump forward, and i really don’t like to get into heavier or more intimate stuff before we’ve really talked about them a LOT and had several interactions. i especially don’t like doing fluff in general, so to have that come up too early really gets me anxious cause i don’t wanna be an asshole about it. it can happen but we really have to get there naturally.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?: lola really doesn’t like younger men, but someone could be maybe ten years younger than him at most. he doesn’t care so much about if they’re older (this goes for all ages, but in his main verse obviously there probably isn’t going to be anyone much older).

personally, as for his younger verses, while it’s part of lola’s canon history that he’s been with men much older than him, that’s not something i want to ship. depending on how young he is, i guess maybe a fifteen year gap would be fine. twenty is a lot if he’s under 40 or so.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: yeah, for the most part. i mean, i think i’ve been too willing to explore the possibility of ships in the past and ended up discussing something with someone who i really didn’t mesh with ooc, so the other mun really has to be someone i like and get along with.

lola also just isn’t going to be that shippable. he’s a very difficult person. he really has a lot of issues when it comes to intimacy and his emotions, especially when he’s younger, and can behave in ways that would realistically drive most people off. this is mostly when he was in his 20s; while he still has a lot of issues, it’s easier stuff to deal with, but he’s still not someone who can just easily get into a “normal” relationship.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NS.FW?: i’ve written some one-off smut things before, but if it’s an actual thread, i think it’s n.sfw once there’s any mention of arousal or genitals or whatever. i’d personally prefer to move the thread off-site IF this ever came up, which in my whole time on tumblr this has happened only once, and it happened very naturally and i really enjoyed how that went down. smut is not something i’ve ever looked to write, but i’m not against it, either. again, i would like to have a connection with the other mun before we go there, just for my comfort. it’s less that i’m embarrassed or prudish about these things, it’s that i get nervous wondering if i’m being too raunchy or something or crossing a boundary. that, and, if you don’t really know me and try to write smut with me, i wonder why you don’t care about my boundaries.

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?: lola is very unlucky with ships and doesn’t have anything with any active muses on tumblr, but he’s had things before.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: not necessarily, but i wouldn’t mind if they did. i also wanna be clear that, even if our muses haven’t interacted, if you think, okay, i think these two could potentially be shipped, i don’t mind discussing that as a possible eventuality, with the understanding that it really just may not work out.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: i really just don’t get a lot of ships, but, i’d like to have some good ones some day. in other words, i’m definitely not bogged down with ships, so definitely explore that possibility with me.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: yes

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?: it’s not exactly a priority, because it really can’t be, but i do tend to get really invested in certain ships, if i end up really liking them. i really wish we could all start off with a mentality of, if one of us gets bored or loses interest in this, can we just tell each other? i don’t like feeling like my partner is more interested than i am, or vice versa. i’d like us both to be comfortable saying, you know i’m just not feelin this that much anymore. it wouldn’t have to mean, this ship is cancelled forever, but we’d just be on the same page. idk if this is really all that relevant to this question but i felt it needed saying.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: ain’t got no damn FANDOMS in here

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: interact with me, even if it’s just liking my ooc posts. send me memes. IM me (i may IM you first if you do the above enough, cause this shows me you’re interested, and i’m liable to return that interest). if i feel like our muses have chemistry, i’ll say something. if i feel like lola could have feelings for your muse, i’ll also say something, because i’m also down for that unrequited shit.

snatched from: @themercifulmother tagging: steal it

#i know i got off topic some in some of these answers but whatever #its all relevant shipping info #i know lola's not like ur typical shipping material but u know. to whom it may concern.#also i'm willing to write him in his younger verses #like i said

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echodrops · 6 years

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BNHA, some thoughts on Toga after reading both your recent metas, the representation and female characters ones. Toga getting reduced to fetish fuel by fandom is pretty irritating. It really shortchanges her character, she's interesting. Despite all the murder, she's not written as a true psychopath/sociopath - her emotions are written as genuine, her empathy is written as being real. Her most depraved and her most empathetic moments both occur in the same arc, too (Overhaul's Hideout).

I actually think we can make a pretty good case for Toga being the best written female character in all of Boku no Hero Academia.

There are two other contenders–Inko and Nana–who could probably easily take the spot if not for their extenuating circumstances: Inko simply isn’t in the story enough to be a consistent source of emotional engagement, and we haven’t seen enough of Nana yet to get a real sense of the depth of her character. If Nana gets to be part of an extended series of flashbacks or becomes a vestige that Izuku can talk to, we might get enough of her to bump her to the top.

But right now, I can make a pretty convincing case for Toga.

1) She is the only female character whose actions are absolutely central to the main plot/conflict as it is unfolding right now. In the last 100 chapters, the only female to single-handedly accomplish anything for her side of the conflict has been Toga. You could not remove Toga from the plot and replace her with any of the male characters around her because her quirk and involvement in the story line are actively integrated in a way that none of the other female characters’ are (again, barring Nana). Mina? Jirou? Kendou? Uraraka? Tsuyu? Even Momo? In the last half of the manga’s plot, none of the class 1-A or 1-B girls have played any major part in the series’ overall conflict, had any stand-out moments of emotional depth that wasn’t narrated for them by a male character, or even been allowed to meaningfully contribute to the battles except during training against classmates, the outcomes of which have no lasting impact on the main heroes vs. villains conflict.

That’s because Toga doesn’t suffer from the one thing holding back all the heroines and heroines-in-training: good girls aren’t violent. Good girls are lovable, attractive, and supportive. They’re not ambitious or obsessive about strength and overcoming their rivals like boys are. Good girls behave well. And unfortunately, Horikoshi is pretty progressive in some ways and really, really unprogressive in others. His definition of “good girls” and the ways good girls act seems to be pretty rooted in conservative Japanese standards, which traditionally have undervalued women. (This is not to say that everyone in Japan discriminates against women, far from it; in general, however, societal standards for women in Japan have lagged behind other major developed nations.)

Uraraka and the other girls in 1-A and 1-B can and will become heroes, surely. They can even prove themselves to be very strong and skilled individuals. But they will only rarely–if ever–be allowed to outshine their male compatriots in terms of strength, aggression, impact on the main plot, and even emotional depth. The tension and depth of this story has, so far, been given almost entirely to male characters–Deku, Iida, Bakugou, Todoroki, Shigaraki, Kirishima, even Shinsou… Readers get more glimpses into the mindsets, emotional struggles, and backstories of these characters than any of the girls. Bakugou can literally cry and scream on screen from how angry he is that he doesn’t measure up to his classmates; but Momo, who feels similarly, will demurely have her confidence issues discussed by Todoroki and Aizawa for her.

Toga, however, doesn’t get hit by this stuff quite as bad because she isn’t a “good girl.” Toga can be violent. Toga can be out on the frontlines throwing down directly with the male heroes and can come out on top because she’s a villain and sometimes the villains have to win for the story to be exciting. Toga got away with threatening Shigaraki.Whether Tomura is just telling lies to keep her on his side or not, Toga is canonically referred to as one of the League’s “linchpins.” She’s tangled with the heroes two more times than Dabi, Mr. Compress, Magne, or Spinner, and once more than Twice, making her literally the League’s most active member. Because of her role as a villain, Toga is free from the limitations that prevent the heroines from making any lasting impacts on the plot.

2) Toga’s personal motivations/mindset have direct impacts on the plot. Sure, being a “love obsessed” girl who develops crushes at the drop of the hat isn’t exactly the most fantastic basis for a female character ever–it’s cripplingly stereotypical and a gross excuse to draw faces bordering on ahegao, actually–but at least Toga’s crushes are plot relevant. Her “love” for Izuku and collecting his blood led to her utilizing that blood in combat to directly change the course of what is probably the series’ most important and dramatic battle to date. Unlike Uraraka, whose crush is essentially mandatory due to her role as the love interest and really has no bearing on the major plot, Toga’s “love” for Izuku shapes not only her actions but also the actions of others because she is a mover-and-shaker in the main conflict, unlike other female characters.

Toga’s crush on Stain was what drove her to join the League, despite the fact that Stain is no longer part of it in any way–and she’s remained loyal to the League. Her crush motivated her to take direct action and change the course of her life. Unlike other crush plot lines given to female characters, which are often used only in two contexts: 1) Oh no, I can’t let these feelings affect my friendship with [shounen protagonist]! 2) Ha ha, look how adorable I am trying to hide my crush from everyone!, Toga’s crushes are driving factors in her story and the plot overall.

3) Toga has demonstrated more meaningful emotional depth than half the female students. You’re right–reducing Toga to fanservice badly degrades a character who’s actually been painted with more depth than virtually any other female character (except Inko) in the series so far. In her response to Magne’s death, her comments that she wants to continue enjoying life with the League, her willingness to threaten Shigaraki for making choices for her, and her delicate treatment of Twice, Toga’s feelings–even those beyond her love and friendship obsession–are portrayed seriously and with a degree of attention and agency that few other females in this series get. Toga is loyal, intelligent, dedicated to pursuing her personal goals, empathetic, brave, and strong-willed, and most importantly–these aren’t informed traits. We don’t hear about how smart she is or how nice or how brave she is from other people–we see it in direct action throughout the course of the story. You don’t hold a knife to Shigaraki Tomura’s neck without being both staggeringly courageous and dead-set in your beliefs–Toga has a backbone of steel and a good head on her shoulders. She’s in far more control of herself than anyone is giving her credit for; she knows exactly what she wants and she’s going for that without hesitating. Her response to Twice after Magne’s death not only demonstrates a clear understanding of other people’s feelings, but also signals to the readers how far the League has come in supporting and valuing each other, an important turning point for readers, making her feelings and dialogue more meaningful than many of the other female characters’.

4) Toga’s obsession with identity–and its ties to her quirk–implies a significantly more interesting backstory than most other girls in the series. In a way that doesn’t happen for many other characters outside the villains, Toga’s quirk is directly tied her to mindset and behavior. She is obsessed with seizing the identities of the people she “loves” to actively become those people. It should be obvious that this obsession is a direct off-shoot of her powers. Imagine what life would be like for a child who could literally change identities any time she became dissatisfied with herself. Forming a personal identity is a complex process for human beings (google Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages for a more in-depth look), and it is also a process fraught with peril. Children and young adults who fail to develop healthy, complete self-identities struggle in a variety of ways, not the least of which is mental illness. How would a tiny young girl who was capable of completely altering her physical appearance and attitude, enough so to be easily mistaken for others, define her own personal identity? This is literally a nightmare scenario, ripe for the development of psychological issues. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out the start of Toga’s descent into madness was realizing that, by hurting others, she could become someone better, more popular, with more friends–someone happy. It makes perfect sense that Toga is the way she is now, with the quirk she has. Toga’s desperate love–her desperate desire to be someone else–is almost inevitably going to be tied to a shattered sense of self. This is why the issue of “villain quirks” is so interesting–did Toga ever have a chance to be “normal,” with a quirk that would have devastated the psyche of a growing child?

I don’t know when or if we’ll ever see Toga’s backstory, but just the hints we’ve been given are already enough to make it richer and more interesting to think about that almost any of the other female characters in the series.

Toga is great, and seeing what she gets reduces to by the fans (hell, and her own creator sometimes) seriously bums me out.

#toga himiko #toga #boku no hero academia #league of villains #bnha meta #himiko toga is best girl #fight me

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fmdluna · 5 years

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[bobby caldwell vc] i bet you’ve wondered where i’ve been!! hi my kings, queens, and in-betweens!! i’m so super excited to be here and present to you my kid, miss moon micha, who is also known as luna of wish!! if you don’t know me, my name is jada, and this is my second go at bringing this mess of a muse to the famed-verse!! i’m back with tons of refreshed inspiration, happiness, and love to give to you all!! so i’m super excited to establish some new connections as well as revive new ones!! i’ve missed this roleplay dearly and am happy to be back, so if you’d like to plot with me please like this and i’d be more than happy to start something up with our characters!! i’ve got discord if youd like it, but ngl i’m the worst at getting back to you. and here’s her plots, profiles, and bio if you’d like!! you know how all that goes, trivia under the cut as well!!

as a preface this whole thing will be v casual because i cba

seoul born & bred, an only child, established in 1998!!

so basically her mother comes from a pretty small town but her father’s from seoul so she started getting that coin!!

anyways she was raised real uppity, fancy house private schools & all that. but she also lived kind of like a mixed family because her dad was borderline obsessed with western culture so he was always like speak english!! eat american food!! listen to american music!! and she would always be taken on trips to paris france usa and shit but she really didn’t care she just wanted to be at home tbh

her mom is the opposite, always urging her to know her culture & cooking her homemade food and belting all her ballads w/micha. it was a lot less forceful which is part of the reason she prefers her mom and also why she doesn’t have that much of an urge to learn english or travel to other countries & all that

anyways life went on as normal until around middle school where she discovered kpop!! this was made canon last time but i wanted to revisit it!! it sounds stupid but was v influential because it a.) made her a knight stan lol and it b.) showed her the potential of becoming an idol as a career c.) opened her up to the kpop genre!!

you may think i’m joking but the only music she was ever exposed to was her parent’s taste so it definitely was a change for her

anyways that phase was just spent being a real cringy stan but anyways proceed

things seem to be okay until money seems to be the only topic of her parent’s conversations - how they’ll get it, how much was lost, all that. her dad’s not making as much as he once was but is still spending like he is, her mom thinks they should downgrade in favor of affordability. the result?? messy messy divorce micha is put in the middle of.

[tw in brackets: substance abuse & verbal abuse!! i’ll make this quick just in case people are uncomfy with strong mentions of these things!! but basically within the stress her dad found himself caught up in drugs and alcohol and it was just a mess. while he was still his normal charismatic self to others, behind closed doors he got really harsh and used really degrading speech towards them over the span of like....a year.] triggering content ends here!

so - how does this relate to micha?? this is a big reason she’s so “justice for all!! women deserve rights!! we’re powerful!!” because she saw & endured all the shit that her dad put them through and also saw how they got out of it. so now she really feels like being strong and powerful is the only way to compensate for those years that she felt weak.

but!! sad times over. anyways, after dealing with all that her mom and her decided that they’d had enough and moved to their own apartment and her mother filed for divorce. there life was a lot simpler but it was happier, because her father wasn’t in the picture. this is also why micha prefers the simplistic life and hates people who are materialistic now!!

anyways - wrapping this up because it’s 10 and i really need to post my intro lmao.

discovered her love for music!! her and her mom used to sing all the time and she loved it and was like huh maybe i should actually do this music stuff

then!! she joined dimensions for a year as a trainee, hated it, and left. thought she was done with being an idol, then got scouted by bc!! was super super excited, joined & then was a trainee for three years until her debut!!

that whole time she was mad because she felt like she was just being bounced around although she was working hard. a big big reason she’s unsatisfied with being in wish is because she thinks it wasn’t really fitting for her and they just kind of plopped her in there because they didn’t know where else to put her

but now we’re here!! she’s....very Extra. deems herself (and kind of is tbh) one of the least favorite members of wish, more in terms of the company than anything. because she’s very outspoken and speaks against issues when she sees them!!

the reason she’s like this is that she had behaved for all of training & like 2 years into wish’s career but when she realized that wasn’t getting her anywhere and her other member’s started getting opportunities and she didn’t she started acting out (because throwing tantrums makes things better!!)

she just wants a solo and it’s not happening rip

but the thing is she’s such an angel on stage and makes the money she’s supposed to for them so i mean she’s walking on thin ice but she’s not doing enough to get herself fired you know what i mean

as for her around wish, she’s a bit of a grandma?? always telling wish to hush & sit down somewhere, but also can’t be bothered to actually be their mom and take care of them lmao.

as for her public image, she’s known to be a cutesy-badass type?? because she’s real cute visually but like when her little rap parts get on the powerful woman pops out

which is fine,,, but being cute is exhausting and she’s tired and wants girl crush!!

also loves all women everywhere that’s very important

uHhh i don’t know what else to say i’ll add more later but!! she does like doing asmr videos and watching them so if you want muses to share recs!! she’s your girl!!

idk what i’m doing or what else to say but yes i’ll rant all about her in ims if you want she’s a mess ok

#✧･ﾟ: * crashing down that fourth wall - ooc. *:･ﾟ✧#hmm am i 4 hours late??#pfft nO!!!#substance abuse tw #verbal abuse tw #< i hope that's all there is but it's brief and i point out where it's mentioned so you can skip over it uwu

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prosperbitches · 6 years

Text

CHARACTER ANALYSIS : OLIVER THREDSON

on todays episode i estelle will break down the character of oliver thredson. let me preface, i in no way am about to excuse anything he has done. in fact i am here to state just the opposite. things i am aiming to prove in this analysis:

OLIVER THREDSON WELL MENTALLY IL IS NOT ACTUALLY INSANE & JUST A NOT GOOD HUMAN BEING !!!!

why am i writing this you may ask ? well because despite his flaws i actually did find his character interesting. nothing beyond that. but i am getting a little worried that people are so easily sympathizing with him ? which is quite, not good guys not good. we need to stop sympathizing with assholes cos they are pretty but thats a post for another time.

you may be thinking “ oh, but hes mentally ill, its not his fault. “ let me clarify for the record that i too have a similar mindset when i hear someone is mentally ill. i auto want to sympathize, but like ???? mental illness isn’t an excuse to be a “ deranged ” serial killer. i use air quotes because according to text book definition he is not actually insane.

now to state, i am no psychology major. i have no degrees, no certificates, nothing that certifices my knowledge. but i am studying to be a mental health and addictions worker. i know little about psychiatry, and i am not going to pretend i can know someones psyche. but i know what mental illness is, what causes it, and further more what an insane person really looks like.

SO LETS GET STARTED SHALL WE

*****TO PREFACE BELOW I WILL BE PAINTING THE CHARACTER IN A NOT SO NICE LIGHT, HOWEVER THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A HATE POST. MORE OF A POST ABOUT HOW HIS ACTIONS ARE JUST NOT GOOD, AND PEOPLE SHOULD BE AWARE OF SUCH INSTEAD OF JUST SEEING HIM AS A TROUBLED SOUL.

CONTINUE TO SCROLL IF YA DON’T WANNA READ.

lets get the ball rolling on the subject by pulling up the definition of insanity.

in·sane/inˈsān/

adjective

in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill."certifying patients as clinically insane"synonyms:mentally ill, mentally disordered, of unsound mind, certifiable;

give that a quick read. now what do you see there ? lets break it down

according to this here definition a person who is isane does not behave in a mind set that is “ normal “ that is the norm. by textbook an insane individual would behave outside the norm and not be aware of this. ( this is why in most cases someone has to claim insanity for you ) and what does that mean you might ask ? well friend let me tell you something.

it means, that an insane person would not actually be able to acknowledge they are insane. because to them ? there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. they believe it to be right, they see nothing wrong with their actions.

let me direct you to this little canon piece of evidence where doctor oliver thredson spits some major bullshite.

see right here... the man is acknowledging he is insane. which thus proves HE IS A VERY SANE INDIVIDUAL WHO KNOWS WHAT HES DOING IS GROSS AND IMMORAL !!!!!!!!!!

literally by saying that he put himself out on the line to be thrown in the damn electric chair. to be perfectly honest had lana acknowledged his words here, not shooting him would have been better in the long run. there was no goddamn way he would have gone to prison if there was some way to prove he said this sentence. but even if she had called him out ? well he still would have gotten off because as a psychiatrist he knows how to act insane to get himself a lighter sentence ( and there was no way to actually prove what he said ) ----- which again is evidence enough the guy is just messed up.

now if your still not on board let me state that, no hes not just conditioned because of his med school training. see becoming “ insane “ is something that is triggered. what triggered oliver's “ insanity “ was the dead body he had to work on in med school. now let me state if the guy was truly insane ? there would have been a lot of things he would dismiss during medical school. and as far as we know the man was perfectly alright in his schooling.

if the guy was insane he wouldn’t be following this practice the way he does, for one thing. he is definitely extremely mentally ill, but he knows well hes doing. and he uses his medical training to hide behind the fact.

a lot of serial killers are well aware of what they are doing is wrong. they are cunning, and manipulative people. they know they are doing fucked up shit but they do it anyways. thredson is no different.

---- he couldn’t even pretend to accept what his schooling / practice told him but actually not believe it, because a real insane person would not even be in the mindset to fake understand things they think are impossible. that is exactly why they are labeled as insane in the first place !!!! they do not have a normal grasp on reality !!!!

now if we really wanna get into it, we can go back to when he was telling lana his story.

he talks about where this all began, as i mentioned above it was in medical school with the practice body. --- now the way he tells this story, it sounds like he really is crazy cos it sounds like he believes this is okay. but you have to remember, he is a medical doctor, a psychiatrist in fact who literally knows all the manipulation tactics. who knows what insanity looks like, and how easy it is to fake insanity. --- he talks about it being a “ craving “ which again sounds like hes just crazy, but thats not the case. oliver is mentally ill, and sees no other way to deal with his illness then falling victim to it.

this is the stage where he could have sought himself some help. he was aware what was going on was wrong, was not right --- but he chose to fall victim to his impulses, rather than get himself help. seeking help with mental illness is a choice. you cannot help those who do not want to be helped. --- he chose to continue what he was doing, knowing full well as a medical student and professional it was a product of mental illness. therefore, his actions are of his own doing.

mental illness makes us feel certain things, but the trick is to not let it control you. we are so much more than our inner demons !! i will admit sometimes it isn’t a choice, sometimes we are stuck -- sometimes we have bad days and let it consume us. but there is hope on the horizon ! however when your a medical professional who has textbook evidence on whats going on your head needs help ?? its just not possible to not have a violent reaction if you are insane. you would outright reject the possibility of you needing help, because your train of thought would be outside the behaviour norms !

oliver chose to fall pray to his demons, his abandonment and developed a sick obsession out of it.

HE CHOSE TO BE A KILLER ON HIS OWN ACCORD !!!!!!!!!

to make my final point. i will give you a textbook example of insanity in the show itself.

you remember kit walker right ? this little fellow here.

kit as we know was sentenced to the asylum under claims of being bloody face, but more so that he was as many called “ insane “ kit in fact ( we all know he was truthful but not many else did ) was exhibiting textbook definition of insanity. being insane doesn’t just extend to your behaviour it also extends to your beliefs. kit believed that aliens abducted his wife, which sounds really just messed up to someone who doesn’t know the truth.

by rejecting the claims that he cut up his wife, by instead claiming she was abducted by aliens, that right there is behaving outside the normal realms of behaviour. kit really believed this is what happened ( and again it was true, as we all know i am merely just making my point ) and to a doctor ? this is what real insanity looks like. the patient genuinely believes the crazy fantasy. kit does not believe anything else is true. i could go deeper into how it could be a product of another mental illness but that is not the point of this here post.

now to make this ironic as we all know... oliver literally diagnoses him.

oliver classifies kits “ delusional “ claims as acute clinical insanity. kit believes his story is the truth, and a doctor or anyone not knowing otherwise would think him insane. by this, oliver further exhibits he knows what insanity is. if we want to go further we can go into the fact thredson tries to manipulate kit into admitting to the crimes, but not claim insanity.

in a way i think that is oliver projecting a bit, not just trying to protect his own ass ( and why would he be so worried if jail is all he had to worry about ?? hmmm i call bullshit but ya know ) but to try and make sense of what he is doing. which again proves how much of an warped individual he is cos hes using his knowledge as a psychiatrist to manipulate a patient. so again, oliver knows exactly what hes doing. hes trying to save his ass cos he knows, that what happened was wrong.

thats about all i have to say on the matter tbh. if you chose to still think him a misunderstood boy who needs love well.... all i gotta say is he was at one point maybe. but as soon as he chose to give into the impulses that was all up into the wind.

feel free to reblog and add stuff if there are some points i missed. but i think i got all the important ones.

#oliver thredson #ahs asylum #ahs #this is probably gonna get me barked at for not tagging anti #but like #its a really important read #and lets be real character hate shouldn't be worried about when the guy is like this #and as i said the character was interesting to whatch #but like hes not a good guy #and people need to like realize that #cos people like this exist in the real world sadly #so please be aware #this is more of an education then anything.#murder tw #mental illness tw #mental health tw #manipulation tw #character meta * /

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angelrider13 · 6 years

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001 Voltron: Legendary Defender

Favorite character: Keith. Hands down. He was my fav even before I watched the show and I just saw random gif sets as I scrolled though my dash. Although Matt is a close second.

Least favorite character: …this is surprisingly hard, I usually have the opposite problem. Picking favorites is Death, but there’s usually this one character I hate above all others…in this fandom not so much. Hmmmm…I guess if I have to pick one, it’d Haggar because she ALWAYS has something planned. I mean when Lotor does it I’m like “Ha! I knew it. Sneaky prince is sneaky.” But when it’s Haggar, I’m like “Fuck. Why can’t you leave my children alone?! LeT tHeM REsT.”

5 favorite ships (canon or non-canon): (I mean, I’m open to pretty much any ship [keep your evil ship wars and discourse away from me] but for my top 5, in no particular order)Klance - I will be the first to admit that I am Klance trash. I tried not to be. I swear I did. It just happened. I have no excuse.Sheith - First ship I shipped in this fandom. They have super good chemistry.Shatt - I was sucked in by all the pre-Kerberos fic. I have no regrets.Shallura - They are in leadership positions and they support each other and I just think they would work well together.Hunay - …How do you NOT ship these two? Is that even possible???

Character I find most attractive: Shiro. Don’t get me wrong, our cast is very pretty, but….Shiro.

Character I would marry: Again, Shiro. He would make a good partner, I feel like.

Character I would be best friends with: Definitely Matt. He is basically what the inside of my head sounds like (minus like all of the smart science things). But we could be total nerds together and it would be awesome.

A random thought: I want more Lions. Like, how do they each communicate with their paladins? How do they feel about everything that’s happening? How sentient are they exactly? I just want more Lion stuff.

An unpopular opinion: This fandom is really bad at writing in-character mental illness. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for neurodivergent paladins. But the way that a majority of the fandom writes it seems…over exaggerated. Now I’m not saying that there aren’t people out there who experience depression or anxiety or autism or whatever that way, I’m just saying that it’s almost never in-character. For instance:

Fanon Lance + depression = cries all the time, doesn’t talk to anyone, runs away, stays in bed, suddenly incapable of combat/piloting, etc.

Canon Lance + depression = puts a smile on even if he feels like dying inside, talks to his friends but never about himself, stays because people need him even if he’d rather disappear, gets out of bed cause he’s got shit to do, kicks asses and takes names because he can’t afford to do anything else, etc.

A lot of people in this fandom seem to equate mental illness with weepy sadness that can be cured with a hug and the Power of Friendship~. No. It doesn’t work like that. It is so much more complicated than that. Being mentally ill doesn’t make someone inherently weak, but a lot of people seem to think that way. If Lance has depression or Hunk has anxiety, or Pidge has autism or Shiro has PTSD or Keith has Borderline Personality Disorder, it doesn’t mean they’re going to collapse as soon as you poke them with a feather. It doesn’t mean they’ll give up because they have this sudden “inability.” They’ll have moments of weakness, sure, they’re human after all. But they will be moments.

They’ve proven, in canon (specifically Shiro as his PTSD is actually canon), that they all have the strength to push past their issues and get done what needs to be done. They have shit to do, they’ll have that anxiety attack later.

Mental illness is messy and complicated and has no easy fix, but almost no one writes it that way. It’s romanticized and used as an excuse to make characters behave in a way they usually wouldn’t. And it’s just really frustrating.

My Canon OTP: I mean, Hunay is basically canon right? They’re just at the mutual pining stage rather than the actual relationship stage.

My non-canon OTP: Again, I am Klance trash.

Most badass character: Are you kidding me? It’s totally Keith. Why is this even a question.

Most epic villain: …ya know, I’m not really sure? Zarkon and Haggar don’t really strike me as “epic.” Zarkon is a little to obsessed with the Black Lion for me to take him seriously and Haggar is a little too obsessed with Zarkon and Quintessence for me to consider - she doesn’t have her own goals really, just Zarkon’s and in my opinion, an epic villain needs to have their own master plan for their own purposes.

…does Lotor count? Have we decided if he’s a villain yet??

Pairing I’m not a fan of: Hmmm anything with Pidge really - I headcanon her as ace-spec. But if we’re talking canon, then honestly? I’d have to say Zarkon/Honerva. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they started off cute, but that relationship got really unhealthy. That saying, love is blind? Yeah, totally accurate here. Zarkon was totally oblivious to literally the rest of universe and Honerva became so obsessed with her research that she was oblivious to the rest of the universe and Zarkon.

At the end there, Honerva looked like she was at the level of obsession where she didn’t leave her lab. She probably slept there. She didn’t even acknowledge him or Alfor when they came in until the topic of shutting down her research came up. And then she didn’t talk to Zarkon - she yelled at Alfor. And Zarkon just fed into her obsession, even though Alfor was bringing up valid points (the deterioration of his planet and Honerva’s health). And their relationship now? Yeah, no.

I know a lot of the fandom sees them as this cute power couple, but their relationship was NOT healthy. At all. And that’s not even touching what their relationship is like post-mortum.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Er, all of them? In the writers’ defense, with a cast this large, there is only so much you can explore individually within the limited time frame they have. However. There are a lot of moments where the characters just feel…well flat. They don’t have depth and then the writers will keep focusing on that flat point and they don’t do anything with it. If you’re going to take the time to bring attention to it, develop it! Change it! Let it grow! Hunk especially! Give our golden boy some more screen time!

Favorite Friendship: Hunk and Pidge brotp. They are so adorable and I love them. Every time these two dorks interact on screen together, my life is brighter.

Character I most identify with: Keith. He is literally me in all social situations. Jokes go over his head, he’s not really sure of the appropriate response, he is an introvert and desperately wants companionship but at the same time wants to avoid it, he is constantly going how do i person? Yep, that’s me.

Character I wish I could be: Matt or Allura. They both know what they want and they’re passionate and confident and outgoing and sassy and I so wish that was me.

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