#“zane is a villain actually” shouldn't be a controversial take. and yet.

[vyladromeave]

7 and 18? :]

07. best dynamic in the series? like, whenever these characters are onscreen your brain just explodes?

APHMAU AND VYLAD!!!!! VYLAD AND LAURANCE!!!!!!!!!!! THEYRE SOOOOOO GOOD. They don't get a lot of screentime, because Vylad doesn't get a lot of screentime, but when they do its almost always written well!! That's a lot to ask of MCD! Vylad being quiet and introspective, but also inherently tied to basically every plot/lore element MCD has to offer does a lot for his onscreen (and offscreen) dynamics. This reaally shines through in his interactions with Aphmau and Laurance.

And LAURANCE AND APHMAU!!!!!! Maybe its because they have sooooo much screentime, arguably the most any pair in the series has, but up until S2 starts shitting itself, their dynamic is SOOOOOO. listen to me. listen.

Aphmau is the person Vylad accidentally created. Laurance is the person he failed, the unplanned sacrifice he was forced to take in a plan that was supposed to only hurt himself. His life is a spiral of guilt. Everything is his fault, and everything has to happen the way it happened, or it would be even worse.

Aphmau is the person who, even before he became a Shadowknight, pulled Laurance out of the darkness. He loves her always, even if she can't return things quite the same, and he's fine with that, he knows he isn't owed anything. Laurance is the split second of hope in Vylad's 200 years of literal torture in hell. A split second of kindness in a life (and death) full of people who simply hate him, use him, or do not care about him.

Vylad is the person Laurance failed. Vylad doesn't see it that way.

Vylad is Aphmau's one hint at a past, the one person who might know more about her than she could know about herself. The one person who's been there since the beginning. She doesn't know him, until she does, and then she knows him too well, more than anyone else knows him. He knows her well, but not in person. He can only make guesses about all the things she wants to know. She already knows too much, but he struggles to hide anything from her, because its his fault she exists. Because its his fault he exists, because he knows her so well, he feels like he can tell her more.

Laurance and Vylad will throw their lives away for the things that matter, and when they're at their lowest, they'll do it for the things that don't matter too. And they're stuck looking to each other for hints on how to be people. They see a hope in each other that they can't see in themselves, but they don't know how to say it.

And the three of them can't all exist in the same room together, because if they do, the universe explodes.

18. is there anything about the fandom you dislike?

smiles. there is so so much and i think saying all of it would get me killed. Admittedly I do think fan spaces for mcd have calmed down SIGNIFICANTLY over time. I've been here since S1, I've seen some shit. But for what it's worth, people are less actively gross in full view of me than they were in the past. Likely a side effect of mcd/Aphmau rp content as a whole being dead for multiple years, but you know what I'll take it.

I still think a lot of people's critical thinking skills could use some fucking Work. I still see so much apologism for villainous characters across mcd (and Aphmau's works as a whole tbh) just because they're charismatic and hot lol. it gets REALLY telling when you compare how people treat Zane in comparison to like, Michi.

There's no harm in liking villainous characters. There's no harm in liking charismatic villains. But you have to admit that thats what they are. I personally think people like Zane and Gene are really interesting, they're decently well-written, their motivations are intriguing, I cannot deny that the way their actions were presented was often cool from a narrative standpoint, and if you find them hot then whatever. As characters, I like them a lot!! But when you consistently start talking about shit like [CLEARLY VILLAINOUS CHARACTER] isn't actually evil™ hes a soft boy™ he's silly he doesn't know what he's doing™ he just made some bad choices™ its not his fault™ he would've made a great dad/lover/brother/etc™ he never meant to hurt anyone™ he wouldn't have hurt anyone if circumstances were better™ oh torture is sexy actually™ you need to step back. and examine your actions. extremely quickly.

Anyone would do different things under different circumstances. Why is it different for them? These people aren't your next Zuko. It isn't your job to fix them. You are not immune to propaganda. You are falling for the charismatic villain boy act, and your life would be a lot better if you didn't.

(ask prompts from here!)