Can You Imagine That He's 45

bojack is disappointed, but not surprised

i agree with you in many ways (for example that pb is really not as innocent and good-natured as it seems from a superficial point of view), but i want to make some remarks!

tbh i don't think that mr peanutbutter had any special attitude to bojack.

OBVIOUSLY pb has his flaws (and you listed them) but to me he seems a rather nice guy? pb generally shows a kind attitude to everyone, it is natural for him; but precisely because he does it unconsciously, and not because of any stable principles and beliefs, in most really difficult situations he behaves incorrectly and selfishly. however, he is capable of really noble deeds - for example, the fact that he forgave diane after he found out about her lie (the scene in the restaurant). i can say that he cared about diane and loved her, just as he appreciates and cares about his other friends (giving todd a place to live, helping bojack with a doll and supporting him after that in the bar, saving a damn underwater city).

he also shows a disdainful attitude towards bojack as well as towards others. i don't even need to list it - as soon as bj starts to really tell pb about his problems, he runs to erica promising that "they will catch up later"! and the fact that he did leave bojack at the party in the last episode. or he brings him to a public event although he must understand that it will be pretty uncomfortable (to put it mildly) for bj to be there now (i'm talking about giving d to hollywoo)

it may seem to us that mr peanutbutter treats bojack in a special way because, despite all insults and the actual betrayal of the latter, he still treats him friendly. i always thought that he didn't care so much about bojack himself as about bojack's opinion of him almost right up to the end of the show, 'cause as we all know he just needs everyone to love him (bj is not special in this regard). he is extremely amiable to bj, forgives any his bad actions etc, as he tries to make bojack like him too because how can someone not like him???

at the same time i in no way exclude pb's sympathy for bojack. even he wouldn't be able to keep running after a man who can't stand him for twenty years!!!

but yes, it doesn't seem to me personally that mr peanutbutter treated bojack in any special way, he's just like that with everyone. he can do both good deeds, helping and supporting, and bad ones, neglecting his friends' feelings. because he's silly used to ignoring any negative emotions in general and because he is too fixated on keeping his image of a cheerful and carefree guy to really pay attention to others' problems.

yeah he definitely has something to work on…

I kinda realized something rather harshly. PB is often woobified by the fandom (this is rather obvious but hear me out). He is typically seen and perceived as this kind genuine and generous person. Because he is….. to Bojack

This is not bobutter propaganda I swear, hear me out

It is a well observed phenomenon in this fandom (as well as in many other fandoms with morally complex and nuanced main characters) that the viewer can often be swayed by the perspective of the main character. As a simple example, the amount of Bojack viewers that sympathize with his actions simply due to the fact that you see how he may be led to commit certain acts is staggering.

And yeah, from Bojack’s perspective Peanutbutter is kind, generous, and caring, because that’s how he always treats Bojack. Constantly scrabbling for opportunities to spend one on one time with Bojack, willing to drop everything at any moment if he needs help, forgiving him when he had no right to be forgiven. Giving up his space, money, and privacy the moment Bojack is in need of a place to stay. Putting his reputation at stake by continuing to associate with Bojack after the public turned on him. Bojack is treated with kindness, patience, and forgiveness in nearly every interaction.

And yeah, if this is how he treated EVERYONE, that reputation he has of being a total sweetheart would be fully justified, but looking beyond Bojack it becomes shockingly obvious that this is NOT the case.

Diane is an easy example, because the seeds that led to their divorce had been sewn throughout the run of the series. Peanutbutter REGULARLY ignores Diane’s needs and perspective, favouring his own ambitions over hers. I saw a post going around about hank after dark (I genuinely can’t find it again or remember who posted it i’m so sorry) but it was about Peanutbutter essentially telling Diane to go to Cordovia to do her own work AWAY from where she could possibly risk his new game show.

This is just the tip of the iceberg but it really shows that he prioritizes his own whims and his own little bubble of hyperfixation over the needs of his wife. He’s usually completely blissfully unaware that she’s often uncomfortable in her own home when it’s full of a film crew, or campaigners, or whatever the hell else he’s latched himself onto. Yes she doesn’t often express this, but to a neurotypical person this would be more obvious by simple observation (peanutbutter is NOT nt, clearly, so he’s less at fault but it doesn’t change the affect), but peanutbutter is so lost in his own whims and excitement that he doesn’t recognize the people around him (AND he tends to get defensive whenever someone tries to bring him back to reality). At least until his divorce with Diane snapped him back to reality.

Also i’m gonna talk about Pickles real quick. I love her, honestly. A lot of people don’t like her but she exists to essentially act as the culmination of all peanutbutter’s problems, and she does that perfectly (also she’s cute, sue me). Yeah, the issue with peanutbutter’s maturity is obvious to the point where Diane calls it out directly. Peanutbutter dates all of these younger girls simply because he WANTS to. He doesn’t care about the affect it may have on the course of these people’s life. He knows it’s wrong, hell Pickles’ age makes him actively uncomfortable whenever it’s pointed out. But he dates her anyways, because he chases whatever makes him happy no matter how selfish.

Yeah, him being bright and optimistic is fun and cute and you could never IMAGINE a man like that doing you wrong, but that mindset lacks real world practicality and sustainability which would in the end lead to the divorce.

Anyways! I digress. Peanutbutter treats Bojack VASTLY different from any of his partners, which is just fascinating to me. He can completely ignore and dismiss Diane’s discomfort with having their house full of crew people, but Bojack appears on his doorstep drunk and distressed and Peanutbutter immediately sends EVERYONE home and gives Bojack his full unwavering support and attention

This ended up kinda tangent-y but I think I made at least some sort of point somewhere in there. I just had thoughts I wanted to get out

some random things

One of my doubts I have about the AU where Bobutter are parents would be the reaction of all the other characters in relation to their relationship and children. I think they would have a very secret and discreet relationship, maybe even the wedding would be something simple, maybe it would just be them and the priest. I don't know if I would put on a party where Bojack would invite his old friends...because they arent really friends anymore? Maybe PB would want to invite his family to his wedding with BJ, but since BJ would like something more discreet it would be just them. And somehow, that made everything even more intimate? So the discovery of their relationship would be huge Hollywood gossip. News like "Are Bojack Horseman/PB gay?"; "Take the horse out of the closet"; "Maybe that was why he never worked out with his 3 ex wives/That explains the cancellation of Horses Around"; Imagining the public's reaction is easier. Maybe Todd would try to talk to both of them? Would Princess Caroline make a call? Diane? This would bring great stress to both of them. To Bojack for the public comments, and PB for seeing him so eager. It would take time for the gossip to pass. So hiding your children from the public would be a sensible but difficult option. They would be those celebrities who would go out completely disguised. Everything would be revealed with another gossip, of course. A photo taken by Paparazzi. The one who suffered the most from the situation at the beginning would be Bj, as people would talk about his past with Sarah Lynn and what a bad father he would be.

This would certainly cause problems for Crackerjack in the future. He may even have PB's last name, but it's not like he never in his life couldn't find out about BJ's past, or even if someone with bad intentions(being a adult or child) found out that he was BJ Horseman's son.

hey! yes, at first they would definitely have to deal with a huge amount of gossip, journalists would break into their house, catch them on the street etc. i personally think that bobutters wouldn't hold a ceremony at all and instead simply sign; they'd rather celebrate their marriage in full during the honeymoon, where it'd be just the two of them.

so yeah, they would have a hard time at first with a bunch of chasing paparazzi and all that, but eventually it'd settle down. it's not that bojack would be much favored in the media after that, but in my opinion, they'd not have to hide the children, since by then no one would care anymore

about the fact that crackerjack eventually finds out about his father's past.... tbh it'd be VERY interesting to see heheh..... their relationship would change a lot, that's for sure, as well as his worldview in general. if you do decide to write a fanfiction or express this idea in some other form (comic? article?), i (we) will be happy read it! <3

metalheads bobutters (they're posers)

mr peanutbutter helps the twins to cut the ice cream evenly so that they don't fight again (he went through that with his brother too)

and of course some memes for special people (bobutter fans)