Might Get Flack For This But You Know What, I Dont Really Enjoy The Types Of People That Will Give Me

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Might expand upon this later

snape stans are so odd to me. like there are so many cool and interesting and better characters to choose from and you choose him?

"the over romanticization of death eaters has made the harry potter/marauders universe lose its charm," i say into the mic.

the crowd boos. i begin to walk off in shame, when multiple voices speak and command silence from the room.

"she's right," they say. i look for the owners of the voices. there in the 5th row stands: literally every character who is inherently good but overlooked by the fandom.

sorry not sorry. i love their dynamic

Arcane Fractured Jinx, Last Stand Ekko, Arcane Savior Viktor, Professor Heimerdinger & Vander Warwick Splash Art

the loss of the addiction angle in Kevin's character in the transition from ogs to uaf really shows to me the flaws in uaf's writing compared to ogs's, at least in terms of Kevin's redemption.

Kevin's energy addiction is a key part of his character in ogs. it's implied to be why he swings so drastically from being good to Ben out of the kindness of his heart to trying to kill hundreds of people in mere hours, and it seems like this has been going on a while, shifts in mood correlating to his energy consumption. the addiction is why Ben and Kevin break apart, because Kevin's behavior because of the effects of the drug and his pursuit of it stop them from being healthy friends. Ben never stops believing Kevin might have the capacity to change, though, trying to see through the person the drug created to the person inside, like him sparing Kevin in framed and helping him out in grudge match. Kevin is, at this point in his life, dangerous, but he's still a kid, and Ben's failure to protect him weighs heavy on him for the rest of his life. you see this narrative and think well, if he's redeemed later, this should be important. recovery should be hard, especially when he seems to have been in survival mode for years. it must be hard for Ben to trust him afterwards, especially with the sheer amount of pain they've put each other through, Kevin especially, because of his addiction.

in uaf, Kevin is already good. he can still absorb things, but they don't hurt him now, they aren't a compromise he makes, sanity for safety. he's a con man, he makes measured plans and scams, not drugged out bids of random violence. he's calm, mostly, and he's a good guy now, and he'll help Ben because he has "honor", and he no longer thinks of life totally selfishly. this, I feel, is a cop out.

main characters aren't really allowed to have rough edges in uaf, and when they do, it seems jarring and out of place, or a result of weird writing. Ben's transition from being a little too kind for Ben to being unreasonably cruel in a way he never was as a child is strange, unfitting of how perfect the show wants him to seem. gwen's random bouts of insulting Kevin or pettily harping on him for things he apologized for seem strange when paired with how kind she usually is to him. and Kevin, Kevin is a "bad boy", but not in a dangerous way. all of his crimes are amorphous "things he's done" that they never elaborate on, his scams not cruel but only conniving. even when mutated, he still seems lucid, way less vengeful and violent than he was as a child. he's not an addict. why would he be? he's a good guy. he's changed. even at times where it seems obvious to show that he's "fallen off the wagon", they don't mention it.

I feel like this leads into a larger discussion about uaf, mainly about character flaws and the white sheet covering specifically the alien trio. character traits that got lost in translation, Ben's hobbies, Gwen's love of technology, Kevin's addiction metaphor. especially in terms of flaws. in uaf Ben's "flaws" fluctuate, sometimes being perfect, sometimes randomly getting an ego, losing it, then gaining it back. Gwen in uaf has no stated flaws, or at least ones that are intentional, but because of that, the ones she accidentally has are more toxic and weird than she ever did as a child. and Kevin? he's an amorphous concept. vaguely criminal. vaguely angry. a doormat. what's the issue with writing Kevin in a way where he really does feel like a homeless kid with addiction problems and enough trauma to have that dead look in his eyes forever? I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this. give Kevin a little violence back.

"Huntlow is canon!" Okay but here's the thing: I know that and you know that and Willow knows that but does Hunter know that?!

My boy is giving off the vibes of someone who would sincerely ask, "Wait, you had a crush on me?" to the witch to whom he is married.

Who feels more morally grey to you or a worse person: Snape or Sirius?

I don’t think there’s such a thing as being more or less grey. A character is either grey or they’re not, because when a character is established as grey, it’s done in accordance with their context and their morally conflicting actions, which can be very diverse. The narrative doesn’t treat Sirius as a grey character, but rather as a good character who has made mistakes, which is very different from Severus, who is treated as a highly ambiguous and questionable character.

The fact that we’re rational enough to see that, despite Rowling’s efforts to whitewash him, Sirius was far from being a good person because he was a bit of a jerk is another matter. The point is that their contradictions and dissonances are very different. Sirius has grey aspects because, despite his good intentions and his positive portrayal, he has a very violent attitude, has actively been a bully out of sheer boredom, has been a mediocre friend to everyone except James, preaches a set of ideals that he doesn’t practice, and holds prejudices strongly rooted in his social class. He’s a hypocrite, honestly.

Severus is a grey character because he has a terrible personality and a shady past, but despite that, he always chooses to serve a good cause even if he doesn’t want or receive recognition for it, all while having a rather difficult and complicated attitude to understand. Each of them is grey in their own way. Neither of them was genuinely a bad person deep down, but neither were they good, and each for different reasons.