#also lol i didn't expect to read dr and idw in the same ask

[beevean]

Hey! Just wanna say I LOVED your short Tenna story. My characterization of him has been missing something for a while now, and you helped me realize what it was— he was WAY too nice. It’s difficult to balance a villain being manipulative and cruel yet tragic and sympathetic— and not only did you do it amazingly, you gave me a lot of confidence in trying my hand at it! Tenna and Kris make me oh so very ill and I’ve been wanting to write about them even before I watched the entirety of chapter three. Please keep writing if you so wish— it’s so good!

(also I loved reading your IDW Sonic deconstructions back in the day)

Awww thank you so muuuuuuch 🥺 I'm so happy that you sent me this ask!

I want to write something about Tenna, but I'm not really sure what (and ngl I'm intimidated by trying to imitate such an iconic character lol). My only thought was, I am in utter love with the Doom Board section, and how uncomfortable it is to witness Tenna's breakdown, and I felt the need to jot my interpretation down - my one mental image was Tenna noticing that Kris is not looking at him at all and feeling outright hurt at being ignored by his first watcher.

I think most fanworks nowadays paint Tenna too much as a lil flustered pathetic wet boy tragic babyboy bean. Which he is. But he's also a manipulative conman not above taking advantage of his employees, and a massive mood-swinging unhinged control freak not above hurting the kid he "raised" for the sake of soothing his own ego. I read a Japanese comment who called him a yandere, and yeah, that fits!

I think Tenna is the kind of person who does kind things for selfish reasons. His one desire is to feel loved and useful. The main way he has to get what he wants is to make people happy, so that they're drawn to him. This means that he's mostly a very nice person who genuinely enjoys entertaining others... but what he truly wants is the recognition that makes him feel worthy. And when he feels abandoned or shunned, when his Berserk Button over being called "old" (which to him means obsolete, worthless, to be thrown away) is hit, he grows desperate to prove himself, and starts putting himself above others, because he wants things his way, he needs to feel in control and in charge and like he matters.

But even he knows that force can only get him so far. If you keep playing his games in the Doom Board, eventually he gets to the point where he no longer believes you're honest. But he still won't let you go. That would be a defeat. The confirmation that you don't love him after all. And that would kill him inside. As Kris says if you CHECK him during the battle, despite his size, he's surprisingly quite fragile :)

One of Tenna's biggest strengths as a character is that he combines these villainous traits with not just a heartwrenching backstory that most of us can relate to, but a really lovable personality. Not only he's chipper and charming, but he really enjoys being a positive force in people's lives. The two sides don't cancel each other, but complement each other in a complex, compelling character, that personally I think it's almost unfair to reduce to the innocent sniffling babyboy lol

I guess this is the best advice I can give? Tenna is kind but self-centered. His ego is big but brittle, and inflated by making people happy. When angry, he gets high on his power and can get manipulative and violent, but deep down he's incredibly sad and doing the equivalent of saying "please tell me I'm good 🥺". It's like, he wants his audience to feel any emotion, even pain or sadness if it has to come to it. As long as he affects them.

Good luck with your writing! If you are posting it somewhere I'd be happy to check it out <3 I'm also so very normal about Tenna and Kris' relationship, I need all the "fun uncle shielding lil Kris from the Divorce and being hurt that his nibling has grown apart from him" content I can get my hands on <3