#either way shut the fuck up abt people liking adam jfc yall are such whiny pissbabies

[constantvariations]

"Why do you like Adam Taurus when Cinder is right there" is a sentiment that's been popping up lately and it's so fucking stupid. The two have a lot of similarities, but only on the surface

Both Adam and Cinder were abused during their childhoods, but Cinder was bought by a business woman who enforced servitude via a shock necklace while Adam was forced into hard manual labor due to his race by a powerful, far-reaching company and permanently disfigured while under its thumb

Both have hurt the people they've worked with, but the dynamics are completely different. Adam and Blake were presented as equals while from the start Emerald and Mercury have been Cinder's underlings. While it's unclear how Adam and Blake's relationship started, we know for certain that Cinder found E&M while they were desperate and vulnerable and made them an offer they couldn't refuse, thus creating a power imbalance. In the voiceover in The Beginning of the End, we hear her slap Emerald for speaking out of turn. When Adam slaps Blake, it's for her perceived naiveté about a peaceful path to equality

Both use violence to gain influence, but only one is a proper terrorist. While the definition of terrorism isn't entirely agreed upon, one of its main hallmarks is the targeting of civilian spaces. The White Fang were explicitly said to go after businesses that refused to service Faunus and people associated with the Schnee Dust Company. It's more akin to assassination than terrorism. Cinder, on the other hand, targeted a school during a major event that was being broadcasted live across the world with the express purpose of spreading fear. She even blackmailed Adam into assisting her

Both have lost an eye, but while the source of Cinder's wound is unknown, Adam is branded with the initials of the company that stole his childhood

Both present themselves as cool and collected to cover up short tempers, but Cinder is clad in Femme Fatale while Adam is more Gentleman Criminal

One thing Adam has that Cinder doesn't is the fact that, at one point in the writing time, Adam did fight for a noble cause. "We are a force of revolution," he'd once said. "You're asking my men to die for a human cause. That's not an idea I'm willing to entertain." He clearly cared about his people, even agreeing to work for Cinder to stop her from harming them more. At no point has Cinder ever indicated she cared about any of the people around her

Yet Cinder is the one that gets both narrative and audience support. She's the one that gets a whole flashback to her sad childhood. She's the one that has a moment of vulnerability to endear her to the audience. She's the one that gets to live despite impossible wounds and falls. People look forward to a potential redemption arc despite her never once showing any remorse over her actions and actively fucking over every person unlucky enough to be in her path, like the woman she robbed and potentially killed at the beginning of V6. She does the same thing over and over again - uses brute force to plow through obstacles, mistreats her allies until they leave or die, does whatever she wants even against orders - and somehow fails upward

In a word, she's boring. It's boring for her to have no real consequences, no arc, no unique characteristics, and no real endgame

Compare that to Adam. His goals are tangible: uplift the Faunus by any means necessary and fuck over the partner who betrayed them all for human favor. Even as atrociously shitty as the writing is, his negative arc is still interesting. After his failure at Haven, he's lost his respect and standing within the Fang. Everyone turns against him, so he fights like he always had to. It's all he knows, all he can do. But the game has changed, the new rules are constraining, and he can only ever lose

There's plenty of other reasons folks might like Adam more than Cinder. He's got a cooler design, his weapon and semblance are badass, Cinder's voice is annoying, etc. I'm personally drawn to characters that get fucked over by the narrative and misconstrued by the audience. I didn't like Adam any more or less than other background characters until I saw the constant vitriol against him and now he's my poor little meow meow

Also, it's not cute or progressive to suggest people like one character over another because they're sexist or an abuse apologist. Y’all are just drinking the radfem "all men are evil"/white liberal "violence is uwu bad" propaganda koolaid cocktail