#gay wrongs= evil eddie arc

[yelenanatural]

can’t wait for homosexual villain eddie diaz arc

[stardustbuck]

toxic bwddie shippers are going to read into everything. you can’t stop it from happening. i think part of the issue is that journalists immediately started talking bwddie when bi buck came to be because it would get clicks and they knew just how popular it was. i don’t fault any of the actors for feeding into a little, they obviously thought it was fun and lighthearted to talk about, these people are not ingrained into fandom culture the way a lot of us are. what you find to be “hints” is simply an actor expressing they’d be open to a storyline if it were to be brought up. that they understand why people ship it, that the content is there and they see why people read certain scenes as romantic. sometimes two actors having great chemistry on screen is both a blessing and a curse.

tim minear is writing bisexual buck the way he wants to, not to appease a certain subset of fans. perhaps he fiddled with the idea years ago, but what we have now is bisexual buck with tommy kinard as his boyfriend. the idea of eddie and tommy was simply that, an idea, that ryan seemingly didn’t want to do because perhaps it felt wrong to him for eddie’s character. headcanoning eddie as gay or demi or anything is fine, writing him as queer is fine, but so far all i’ve heard from ryan is that he considers eddie to be a heterosexual man with an deep, meaningful friendship with a queer man and that means a lot to him considering how he feels male friendship should be.

of course buck and eddie are going to share copious amounts of screentime together. they’ve damn nearly been attached at the hip since s2 and bffs for liferz, buck and eddies friendship is important, buck is essentially christophers godfather/uncle, not his father. buck’s arc of the season was in the beginning, so we don’t focus as much on him as tommy because again, their storyline for the season was over, but tommy was brought back even just for 60 seconds to show that their relationship is still going strong, with what little time the crew had to work with this season, i think many people can agree they did a good job introducing this relationship and by the end getting people excited for season 8 to see their relationship grow and struggle with the reintroduction of captain gerrard.

but it’s clear no matter what, there is going to be people who are reading into every single thing and claiming it’s bwddie hints and well, maybe you’re right but atp im highly doubting it’s happening. especially with the way people are acting.

you’ll continue to hate tommy, you’ll continue to complain, you’ll continue to grasp at straws for how “this is how bwddie with happen still!” by the end of s8 when buck and tommy are most likely still together.

i can only hope people will come around and start to realize how amazing it is we even have bisexual buck at all and that bucktommy isn’t the evil ship you think it is now.

[heavencasteel420]

For the ask game 8, 9, and 10

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about: I think Steve’s redemption arc started and ended in S1. He’s exactly as nice now as he was at the beginning of S2, i.e., generally kind, pretty self-centered, occasionally snotty, and not proactive but very willing to help out in the heat of the moment. He changes throughout S3, but that’s more about self-actualization than redemption (learning to enjoy being himself rather than putting on a persona all the time). My charitable interpretation of S4 is that he’s still clinging to a vision of conventional success and thus fantasizes about a future tableau of domestic bliss with his ex-girlfriend.

9. worst part of canon: for sheer unwatchability, it’s the Russian plotline. The Russian characters are generally embarrassingly broad, and a cartoonish foreign power is just not as emotional or scary as the idea that your own government could be screwing you over. This kind of connects to another major problem in later seasons: the tendency to make the most evil/violent/bigoted characters largely teens and/or out-of-towners, shifting blame away from adults (who have more power) and Hawkins residents (the “us” rather than the “them”). It’s an out-of-town teen who’s the most prominent racist, a teen who leads the satanic panic mob, a teen murderer who started it all. I get that teen villains are more engaging to a younger-skewing audience, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

10. worst part of fanon: I genuinely don’t mind that Steve is so wildly popular, even though I only like him a normal amount and don’t totally get the hype. What I do mind is the fandom’s tendency to demonize other characters and dismiss their experiences to prop him up, often in offensive ways. Also, this is going to sound like a small thing, but once I saw someone say that they refused to believe Eddie was living with Wayne because his dad was in prison; rather, they chose to believe that his dad had kicked him out for being gay. There’s nothing wrong with interpreting Eddie as gay or thinking that his dad had a problem with that, plus I don’t think it’s officially canon that his dad’s in prison (just a very likely scenario given other info in canon), but the total disinterest in Eddie’s experience as the child of an incarcerated person was really dispiriting to me. Like that’s not a real thing people deal with, or a subject worthy of examination.

[finalgirlwillbyers]

brief intro

hiii, i'm doozy. this is mainly a Stranger Things blog with other media mixed in.

please be aware that:

i’m a hater because i am a lover.

this is a side blog (follow this one). my main is doozzyy (i follow you from there).

if you want to know my opinion, please ask! i'm slow to respond 'cause i am a person with a full-time job and other priorities.

(master list of anon responses below or search "hello it's me")

Will Byers

1. Will Byers and Vecna: A Discussion on Free Will, Determinism, and The Nature of Evil in S5 

2. An Analysis of A Wrinkle in Time and It’s Coming of Age Themes + Spacetime Travel

3. Will Byers: A Gay Stereotype?

4. The Wonder Twins: Do They Deserve the Title?

5. The Byers Family: A Look into Joyce's Flawed Parenting and Jonathan's Parentification

6. A Reminder About Will's S5 Arc + Characterization

7. A Note about Will's Centrality in the Narrative + the Ship

8. Why Are You Saying Will Being GNC Doesn't Make Him A Hero? - Tags version (only me HERE) and a beautiful follow-up by @/punkwillbyers (HERE)

9. Will's Gotta Earn the Title of 'Cunt'

10. An Exploration of Villain Will and Why Some Say it's Cliché

11. The Byers and the Wheelers: Let's Not Do Trauma Olympics

12. Buffer Byers 101: That's Not Will

13. Why Bylrs are Resistant to GNC Will

14. What Stranger Things VR Reiterates About Will

Dustin Henderson

1. Dustin’s Relationship with Mike, Eddie, and Steve + S5 Arc Predictions

2. "Me Thinks the Dusty bun Doth Protest Too Much": A Discussion on Dustin, Loneliness, and Defense Mechanisms

3. Dustin: The Duffers' Favorite Party Member

4. Nerds Do You Copy? Dustin Exists!

5. Prediction About Dustin's S5 Arc and How it Relates to Eddie

6. A Discussion on Dustin's S5 Arc Prediction and How Grief Manifests on ST

Max Mayfield

1. Max isn't Mike

2. Max and Dustin: Why They're the Best Written Party Members and Why the Others Fall Short

3. The Tragedy vs. The Message: The Conundrum of a Permanent Max Death

Lucas Sinclair

1. The Ultimate Athlete: Jason Carver and Lucas Sinclair + a debate on the canonicity of Lucas on the Line

2. Racism in the Writers Room: A Brief Discussion on Racist Writing for Lucas and Argyle

3. Lucas and Erica: the Healthiest Sibling Dynamic

4. Your Double Standards are Showing: The By!er Tag, Racist Writing, and Virtue Signaling

5. E!umax: Lucas is a Token and a Tool

6. Lucas's Novel Used as Fodder for Shipping Wars

Mike Wheeler

1. Why Mike Being Targeted/Kidnapped By Vecna Theory Doesn’t Work (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3)

2. Mike’s Role as Leader in S5 and How People Are Missing the Point 

3. Fanon!Mike Co-opting Other Characters' Arcs: Do Some of Ya'll Even Like Canon!Mike?

4. A Case Study on Fanon v. Canon: Babygirl!Mike (feat. Buff!Byers)

5. Mikestan's Crucifixion of Mike Wheeler

6. Mike Never Apologized to Will in S3

7. Fanon Brain Over Mike's S5 Haircut

8. Mike's Fuckass Bob Copy-Pasta

El Hopper

1. El Fatigue and Screen Time

2. (Un)Popular Opinion: El Fatigue is Real

Rockie

1. What Went Wrong and What Can We Expect from Robin and Vickie in S5

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

1. The Confessional: Vecna's Curse

Random Posts (many more in my #hello it's me)

1. How Does Stranger Things 3 Suck: A Non-Exhaustive List

2. It's Bullshit

3. Pointing out Racism is Virtue Signaling?

4. Don't Forget ST Filmed in a Holocaust Prison

5. My Memorialized Tags From a Post About the 'Marvelification' (Commercialization) of Stranger Things

6. Ugly Mike Doesn't Exist

7. Argyle is The Reason The Cali Crew Are Alive

8. Bylr Stats 101

9. Bylr Kiss Prediction

10. Bylr is a Plot Twist

Come back soon!

Updated: 8/21

[strangertheories]

shoutout to fandom romanticing pedophilic gives-drugs-to-kids-with-no-safety-checks-except-making-vulnerable-people-trip-in-his-van-like-a-fucking-creep no life lowlife actual adult who hasn't given a shit enough to graduate school and bullies literal children because he's an insecure loser eddie.

I feel like this is a tad extreme. First of all pedophilic? Eddie is not a pedophile. Chrissy's age is still up for debate but even so, their interaction was never said to be romantic, he was just comforting someone who thought they were going insane. I also kind of interpret him as being gay and into Steve, but I will admit Steddie is not canon. But neither is Eddie X Chrissy? And yes, he did deal drugs, but he's also shown to be living in poverty so I don't think it makes him an evil person because he just needs the cash. I don't know much about drugs so I'm not going to comment on the safety stuff, but I suppose that's a valid criticism.

But again, I don't think these are irredeemable evil acts. Isn't that kind of the point though? Because he's a drug dealer and he's kind of mean and he has a spiky exterior let's say, people assume he's therefore a bad and horrible person who's capable of murder but he's just some kind of nerdy and cowardly but also very friendly guy. It's why Chrissy said she thought he was going to be meaner. It's the same attitude I take towards him 'bullying' children. Is he a bit too mean and harsh at the start of the series, especially when he refuses to postpone D&D? Yes, I'd say so. But once you get through his seemingly scary and mean appearance, you realize why these kids love him so much and why they want to be like him. I think he also acts mean because people expect him to be like that because he's into alternative stuff when in reality he's just a nice dude who likes heavy metal and LARP.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I always interpreted the fact he hadn't graduated was not because he was lazy but because he was scared to move on with his life. That's the point of his whole character arc. He starts out as someone who is too afraid to change so he just avoids his problems entirely and as the season goes on, he becomes more and more brave before sacrificing himself to prevent the demobats from attacking Nancy, Steve and Robin and to damage Vecna via hive mind. It's why he says he's finally going to graduate before he dies. He's finally been able to move on and not be afraid of change anymore because he stopped running from his problems.

Hopefully this explanation made sense. Thanks for the ask anyways.

[ripjaws]

Ben 10 Survey Results!

Huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response, it was really fun looking through them all and I was genuinely surprised by the results of some of the questions.

Hopefully this will work under a read more because it's quite long and I don't want people to have to scroll a hundred years to get past it.

If anyone has any questions or anything please feel free to ask! :)

Thanks again!

General

Q1. How would you describe your gender?

36% - Female 25.3% - Male 24% - Non-binary 8% - Prefer not to say 4% - Agender 2.7% - Genderfluid

Q2. How would you describe your sexuality?

32% - Bisexual 20% - Heterosexual 20 % - Asexual 8% - Lesbian 6.7% - Prefer not to say 5.4% - Pansexual 4% - Gay 1.3% - Demisexual 1.3% - Questioning 1.3% - Polysexual

Q3. Current age

48% - 20-24 39% - 15-19 13.3% - 25-30 1.3% - Older than 30 1.3% - Younger than 15

Q4. Age when you first became interested in Ben 10

86.7% - Younger than 15 9.3% - 15-19 2.7% - 20-24 1.3% - 25-30

Episodes and season

Q1. Which series did you watch first?

88% - Original Series 9.3% - Alien Force 1.3% - Omniverse 1.3% - Reboot

Q2. Rank the series in order of preference

[IMAGE ID: Five separate groups of five vertical bar charts. The individual columns for each group are coloured in the same order and corresponds to what ranking they recieved on that question of the survey. According to the key at the top of the image the order is; blue = 1, red = 2, orange = 3, green = 4 & purple = 5. The Y axis of the graph goes from zero to thirty in intervals of ten.

The first group is labelled ‘Original Series’ and shows that it got twenty votes in blue, seventeen votes in red, sixteen votes in orange, ten votes in green & twelve votes in purple.

The second group is labelled ‘Alien Force’ and shows that it got nine votes in blue, eighteen votes in red, twenty-one votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & five votes in purple.

The third group is labelled ‘Ultimate Alien’ and shows that it got thirteen votes in blue, ten votes in red, fourteen votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & sixteen votes in purple.

The fourth group is labelled ‘Omniverse’ and shows that it got eighteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seventeen votes in orange, fifteen votes in green & ten votes in purple.

The fifth and final group is labelled ‘Reboot’ and shows that it got fifteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seven votes in orange, six votes in green & thirty-two votes in purple. END IMAGE ID]

Q3. Favourite season (Original Series)

40% - Season 1 18.7% - Season 2 18.7% - Season 3 17.3% - Season 4 5.3% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Ken 10 (S4E10) & Kevin 11 (S1E7)

Q4. Favourite season (Alien Force)

52% - Season 2 28% - Season 1 16% - Season 3 4% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Alone Together (S2E2) & Save the Last Dance (S2E4)

Q5. Favourite Season (Ultimate Alien)

36% - Season 1 25.3% - Season 3 20% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Forge of Creation (S1E16) & Duped (S1E2)

Q6. Favourite Season (Omniverse)

18.7% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2 16% - Season 5 12% - Season 6 10.7% - Season 1 9.3% - Season 8 8% - Season 4 5.3% - Season 3 1.3% - Season 7

Most popular episodes were And Then There Were None (S6E1) & And Then There Was Ben (S6S2)

Q7. Favourite Season (Reboot)

60% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 17.3% - Season 4 10.7% - Season 3 6.7% - Season 1 5.3% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Omni-tricked (S1E37) & Innervasion (S2E36)

Q8. Which live action movie did you prefer?

40% - Alien Swarm 22.7% - Race Against time 22.7% - Didn’t like either 14.7% - Haven’t watched either

Characters and aliens

Q1. Favourite main character

45.3% - Ben Tennyson 28% - Kevin Levin 17.3% - Rook Blonko 9.3% - Gwen Tennyson

Some ‘Why’ responses:

Ben -

I know it's a really basic pick but I enjoy Ben alot as a character. Even though I feel like he took an extremely sharp turn into immaturity in the final season of Alien Force onward (from what I've heard it was due to ratings), it still fit well after a bit of time of adjustment. Him being rash and selfish at times while still having a good heart feels...very human. I'm a huge fan of flawed protagonists and Ben is a prime example of such, imo! Plus I hradcanon that he has autism and it's a big comfort for me :)

I love his potential as a character and the way he hands having such power and responsibility thrust upon him. Ben has done so much for the people in his life and the universe, and I absolutely adore him.

I think of him like a kind person who tries his best to the right thing, he's pretty chill and optimist and in my mind he's a chaotic bi and i can relate to that

Kevin -

I like that he's always been an antihero in the original series. And in the reboot I really like the direction the showrunners are taking his character. He has a different backstory, motivations and I'm really enjoying his character development. It's a fresh take on his story and they're treating it with care, which I really appreciate. His Antitrix aliens also have some really incredible designs.

Cool powers, uncommon character in children's media, especially as a primary character often cast in a good light (ex con, high school dropout, masculine, not emotionally mature). His character development is some of the best in the series.

Gods, we could be here forever... Okay, short version- 1) I can relate to him on a mental health level, especially in the OG series we seemed to have similar issues and to handle them in similar ways 2) there's a lot of depth and variance to his character, he's angry and aggressive and dangerous but also a dork, a sweetheart, and very affectionate once he lets his walls down, he loves cars and supernatural romance, violence and magical girls, he'll rescue an aggressive dog for no reason other than it needed help but also he might consider how much he could get for selling you, he's a complex character and he's allowed to be in a way the Tennysons can't because of how firmly they sit in the Hero seat 3) for all of this, we never really know all that much about him and his experiences, at least in comparison to what we know is there- we never learn about his time traveling the galaxy, we haven't heard anything about his time stuck in time, it's only in the reboot we're getting trustworthy information about his background and even then it's rare tidbits- he's ripe for exploring in fic, headcanon, and so-on 4) his powers in the OG series, his status as mutant or alien or both who knows anymore leaves a lot of doors open to play and to look at the world through different angles 5) dude has turned into six different monstrous chimera forms over the course of the franchise and honestly you have to support that sort've shit in media otherwise they might stop

Rook -

Alien catboy with a glorious voice and have you seen those arms??? And he's so polite while also being hilarious when he gets a little rude/snarky and his character development is amazing!!

While I would normally say Ben himself, Rook is his only friend that hasn't tried to kill him. Additionally, he provides Ben with guidance as well as support the Gwen and Kevin are fickle about.

Having an actual alien joining the cast and serving at Ben's foil worked well to me.

Gwen -

Smart, talented, funny, snarky, confident, and super cute. Jock-prep-nerd energy all in one. Deserves the world. Criminally ignored by the majority of the fandom. Knows karate and judo?? College at 16?? Icon.

Angel, can do no wrong, was capable of so much more than the show let her do, potential to be the most powerful member of the team if they'd just let her go a lil feral sometimes :/

She was a good voice of reason most of the time. Her powers were really interesting and overall I think she had a lot of wasted potential having to be sidelined since the series was about Ben ultimately

Q2. Favourite minor characters

40 votes - Paradox

22 votes - Max Tennyson

18 votes - Tetrax

17 votes - Argit

16 votes - Julie Yamamoto

15 votes - Azmuth

12 votes - Ester

10 votes - Looma Red Wind

9 votes - Glitch

9 votes - Kai Green

7 votes - Alan Albright

6 votes - Jimmy Jones

4 votes - Cooper Daniels

3 votes - Eunice

3 votes - Helen Wheels

2 votes - Elena Validus

2 votes - Manny Armstrong

1 vote - Cash Murray

1 vote - Driba

Other votes went to Penny Bennyson, Kenny Tennyson/Spanner, Lucy Mann, Rook Shar, Eddie Grandsmith, Myaxx and Pakmar.

Q3. Ship or Zed

64% - Ship 36% - Zed

Q4. Favourite main antagonist 

20% - Albedo 13.3% - Kevin 11 12% - Vilgax 10.7% - Charmcaster 10.7% - Zs’Skayr 9.3% - Malware 5.3% - Forever Knights 5.3% - Eon 4% - Highbreed & DNAliens 4% - Aggregor 1.3% - Servantis & Rooters 1.3% - Khyber 1.3% - Dagon & the Esoterica

Some ‘Why’ responses for top 3:

Albedo -

When I first saw him during the airing of Good Copy, Bad Copy, I was scared that Albedo might be a one-and-done evil clone that doesn't get much development. These fears went away, and I was pleased to find out about his backstory and motives, just a sour soul in an unpleasant situation. Even in Ultimate Alien with his reappearance episode, he tries to work on his own to cope in a horrid human world. He isn't necessarily malicious until Ben gets in his way, he just wants to return to his own body and leave, even stating that he wasn't going to fight Ben anymore while he had temporarily returned to his Galvan form. I know DJW stated in some interview that Albedo could never be redeemed, but I believe there's some hope if he gets help. And I'm a sucker for those redemption arcs :)

Tragic frog man that could have been helped but nobody helped him and he doubled down on his hatred which led to him getting stuck in a cycle of revenge and punishment and it's the tragedy of how much better things could have been for him if someone just helped him that I love so much!!

Kevin 11 -

He’s very dangerous and has a terrifying power to absorb electricity and living DNA to have the same powers of who he absorbed it from and even turn himself into a mutant with all those powers combined leading to destructive power 

Kevin was a good antagonist and a good protagonist, although i feel the transition was rushed. Anti-hero kevin in the reboot is great!

Vilgax -

He was always the endgame villian for Ben, despite how many battles they've had, despite countless losses, he always tried to stay one step ahead, and plan everything.

"Speak with care, Psyphon. Your counsel is valuable...not irreplaceable."

Q5. Favourite minor villains 

38 votes - Animo 20 votes - Hex 18 votes - Michael Morningstar/Darkstar 14 votes - SixSix 13 votes - Zombozo 9 votes - Vreedle family 9 votes - Vulkanus 8 votes - Rojo 5 votes - Inspector 13 5 votes - Billy Billions 5 votes - Will Harangue 4 votes - Fistrick 4 votes - Nyancy Chan 3 votes - Lord Decibel 3 votes - Simian 3 votes - Subdora 3 votes - Viktor 2 votes - Addwaitya 2 votes - Fistina 2 votes - Kraab 2 votes - Psyphon 2 votes - Steam Smythe 2 votes - Sunder 1 vote - Liam 1 vote - Ssserpent

Other votes went to Maurice & Sydney, Bugg Brothers, Alternate evil Bens, and the Mummy.

Q6. Favourite canon relationship

66.7% - Gwen & Kevin 13.3% - Max Tennyson & Verdona 5.3% - Ben & Kai 4% - Rook & Rayona 1.3% - Julie & Herve 1.3% - Max & Xylene

Q7. Favourite non-canon ship

36% - I don’t have one 30.7% - Ben & Rook 6.7% - Ben & Kevin 4% - Ben & Julie

Other responses included Ben & Rex, Kai & Julie, Looma & Attea, Alan & Cooper, Ben & Looma, Kevin & Manny, Gwen & Cooper, Ben & Ester, Max & Phil, Azmuth & Paradox, Cooper & Elena, Kai & Ester, Ben & Zak Saturday, Ben & Eddie, Ben & Albedo, Ben & Kevin & Gwen, Kenny & Devlin, OC & canon, and Ben & a therapist. 

Q8. Favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

18.7% - XLR8 17.3% - Upgrade 13.3% - Ghostfreak 10.7% - Diamondhead 9.3% - Heatblast 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Snare-oh 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Four Arms

Q9. Least favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

22.7% - Eye Guy 18.7% - Spitter 8% - Articguana 8% - Frankenstrike 6.7% - Upchuck 6.7% - Stinkfly 5.3% - Buzzshock 5.3% - Snare-oh 4% - Four Arms 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Wildmutt 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Diamondhead 1.3% - Ghostfreak

Q10. Favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

46.7% - Big Chill 17.3% - Rath 8% - Goop 6.7% - Lodestar 5.3% - Swampfire 4% - Chromastone 4% - Spidermonkey 2.7% - Alien X 2.7% - Echo Echo 1.3% - Humungousaur 1.3% - Jetray

Q11. Least favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

18.7% - Lodestar 17.3% - Brainstorm 13.3% - Alien X 10.7% - Humungousaur 10.7% - Spidermonkey 8% - Jetray 8% - Chromastone 5.3% - Goop 5.3% - Echo Echo 2.7% - Rath

Q12. Favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

18.7% - Juryrigg 16% - AmpFibian 14.7% - Clockwork 12% - NRG 8% - Armodrillo 8% - Shocksquatch 8% - Terraspin 8% - Water Hazard 2.7% - Chamalien 2.7% - Fasttrack 1.3% - Eatle

Q13. Least favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

30.7% - Fasttrack 18.7% - Eatle 13.3% - Juryrigg 9.3% - Chamalien 8% - Shocksquatch 6.7% - Terraspin 5.3% - Water Hazard 4% - Clockwork 1.3% - AmpFibian 1.3% - Armodrillo 1.3% - NRG

Q14. Favourite Ultimate Form

38.7% - Echo Echo 24% - Big Chill 10.7% - Swampfire 9.3% - Way Big 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Spidermonkey 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Humungousaur

Q15. Favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

29.3% - Feedback 13.3% - Pesky Dust 12% - Gravattack 9.3% - Ball Weevil 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Whampire 5.3% - Bloxx 4% - Atomix 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Gutrot 1.3% - Crashhopper 1.3% - Kickin Hawk 1.3% - Toepick 1.3% - The Worst

Q16. Least favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

24% - The Worst 14.7% - Bloxx 12% - Mole-Stache 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Astrodactyl 6.7% - Kickin Hawk 5.3% - Atomix 5.3% - Gutrot 4% - Crashhopper 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Toepick 1.3% - Ball Weevil

Q17. Favourite alternate Ben timeline

29.3% - No watch Ben 24% - Gwen 10 17.3% - Ben 10,000 8% - Mad Ben 6.7% - Dimension 23 6.7% - Eon 4% - Nega Ben 2.7% - Benzarro 1.3% - Bad Ben

Misc.

Q1. Favourite watch design

37.3% - Original Series 29.3% - Omniverse 17.3% - Alien Force 9.3% - Ultimatrix 6.7% - Reboot

Q2. Favourite alternate watch design

29.3% - Biomnitrix 20% - Gwen 10 18.7% - Negatrix 17.3% - Antitrix 8% - Power Watch 6.7% - Hero Watch

Q3. Favourite planet visited

32% - Anur Transyl 20% - Revonnah 13.3% - Mykdl’dy 10.7% - Galvan Prime 9.3% - Vilgaxia 6.7% - Piscciss 5.3% - Petropia 2.7% - Khoros

Q4. Favourite locations

34 votes - Undertown 23 votes - Ledgerdomain 23 votes - Null Void 22 votes - Bellwood 19 votes - Friedkin University 18 votes - Mr. Smoothy 16 votes - Forge of Creation 15 votes - Los Soledad 7 votes - Burger Shack 7 votes - Plumber Headquarters 4 votes - Incarcecon 2 votes - Mt. Rushmore Plumber base 2 votes - The Perplexahedron 1 vote - Plumber Academy

Q5. Favourite Vehicle

33.3% - Kevin’s car (Original) 25.3% - Rustbucket 18.7% - Proto-TRUK 13.3% - DX Mark 10 5.3% - Kevin’s car (Omniverse) 4% - Glitch

Q6. Favourite Kevin mutation

40% - Original series 20% - Ken 10 future 12% - Ultimate Alien 8% - Omniverse 8% - Alien Force 6.7% - Omniverse flashback 5.3% - Reboot

Q7. Favourite Omniverse redesign

66.7% - Ben 26.6% - Kevin 6.7% - Gwen

Q8. Least favourite Omniverse redesign

76% - Gwen 18.7% - Kevin 5.3% - Ben

Thoughts

(Putting every single response here would make this insanely long so I’ve just put the most detailed/most echoed responses & include all sides of opinions when possible.)

Q1. Thoughts on the Osmosians retcon?

Okay, first up, do you know how much work I had already put into building shit surrounding those fuckers by the time of the retcons? I had been working on this crap since AF season 2! But no, they gotta go ruin that in one fell swoop, thank you, much appreciated. Second up, I wibble on it? Like, working with mutants is fun and interesting and I've done plenty of shit with them as well, but in the end I'm always going to be a pro-Ossys person. Mostly the retcons left more questions than they gave answers (how, if Osmosians never existed, did everybody and their mother know Kevin was an Osmosian? why, if Osmosians never existed, did none of the people not-involved in this whole disaster with Servantis's mindfuckery look at Aggregor being reported as an Osmosian and go 'wtf that's not a thing'? do they really mean to tell me that not only did Kevin never bother to look into his heritage, but neither did research-happy Gwen? or am I expected to believe the Rooters made enough fake information and put it out publicly that they fooled literally everyone? and if they did then why? when it would've done the same thing with less effort if they'd just, let Kevin be a mutant with a Plumber father who died) and I feel like they didn't really give enough to justify them. One of those cases of 'making your work less interesting to make it more 'accurate''. Personally, I forever keep working on Osmosians (where's the line where it just starts becoming your shit, I think I may be heading there) and I love on mutants and I flip between or combine the two as needed for whatever story I want to tell.

While the fake memories plot isn't great I think it's for the best because the original series meant for Kevin to be a mutant while UAF changed it to alien. I like him better as a mutant human. Too much alien connections in UAF.

I could scream for hours. Easily one of the worst decisions they ever made. Omniverse picks and chooses what canon to follow from AFUA + the original run and throws it in without care or concern to what it means for the timeline. Retconning something and keeping the effect it had is just bad writing. Kevin coming to terms with not being human and that’s okay was important to me when I was a kid. Knowing that he’s just been on an unending series of brainwashed nonsense all his life deprives him of his agency. I hate this decision more than several dozen essays could ever convey.

I wasn't mad about it. Mainly because I liked the idea of Kevin being a mutant than an alien. Alien Force really was pushing that aspect even with Gwen. To the point where she called her powers 'not spells' because of her heritage. Stupid that the rooters and fake memories were a thing, but necessary.

I was never a big fan of the Rooters Arc, but this doesn't bother me too much. It makes UA a little weird with Aggragor, but again, it doesn't really bother me, as most of Omniverse didn't explore Kevin (While UA Did), and was mostly about Ben.

Osmosians were such a cool idea, and it would've allowed for more exploration into what Mike Morningstar was as well, but just writing them off as mutates is so boring. As well as it makes Aggregors whole part not really make sense, like who is he then.

While well executed, it was unnecessary. You could have had the same story line where Kevin was used to mutate other kids and still had him an Alien. You could have had it where it was another alien species that used Osmosians to morph other species to theirs; a call back to the DNAliens if you want.

Q2. Thoughts on how the Ultimate Kevin situation was dealt with in UA?

Terrible. They wanted to go far. They wanted to go dark. But they didn't think their viewership could handle it so they dialed it back. I will always be curious to know what they would have written if they didn't have those constraints. Because the final product was a mess of contrasting tone and unsure footing about how far to go with questioning our hero's moral compass. They wanted to push Ben to see what he would do and apparently, we got that he would kill Kevin and maybe Gwen if she got in the way of saving the universe.... but not really because he didn't. And then the gang is happy all back together like none of it ever happened. They wanted to explore dark themes but have it leave no consequences on the characters. Also... it was so ableist and awful and Kevin deserved better than how Ben and Max (and the writers) treated him.

If they did everything the same but the argument was 'we need to capture him and lock him away' instead of 'we need to kill him'? I would be fine. It's the fact that they slipped so quickly into murder, into murder by his 16-yo bestfriend, that gets me. Like, there's apparently no space between 'recklessly risk our safety trying to talk him down' and 'Ol' Yeller his ass' and that just does not sit right with me.

Ben should have looked for alternate solutions before jumping on the "Let's kill Kevin" train. I understand why he did (this took place immediately post-Aggregor so Ben was still traumatized about having lost so many people and because he failed and "let" Kevin get turned into Ultimate Kevin, he felt as though every person Kevin hurt would be on him) but I wish he hadn't.

Pretty good actually. I like Gwen's emotions becoming a hindrance to the job, I like Ben putting on his big boy pants and I like Kevin going up to Aggregor and saying "y'know, I was a big boy villain once and I'm tried of just getting kicked around" (obviously paraphrasing)

Other than the scenario being overplayed, I think Ben was right. Kevin was eventually going to end up killing Gwen and he'd already put others in the hospital. He needed to be stopped.

Ben jumping straight to murder, yikes. Kevin dismissing Gwen to hang out with Ben almost as soon as he turned back to normal, yikes. Otherwise, it was an interesting plotline.

Really bad. Really shows how awful max and the plumbers really are. I mean , the guy saved the universe and now he clearly needs help but all they wanted to do was kill him.

it really felt like Ben just wanted to murder Kevin because he saved the universe that one time and Ben couldn't stand someone else being the hero for once

The worst, Max straight away wanting to put him down makes u wonder how long he's been waiting for that kind of opportunity.

I'm fine with it, maybe they could have spent some time dealing with the consequences of Kevin's actions, possibly even the ramifications it had on Ben and Kevin's friendship, but overall I'm ok with it.

Q3. Thoughts on the Plumbers

Plumbers ain't shit. Individuals can be acceptable or not but the organization as a whole has too much power, not enough oversight, utilizes child labor, uses a deathtrap of a hellscape dimension as a penal colony, has been shown onscreen sentencing people to imprisonment in said dimension without a trial, and I'm sorry the fact that a Plumber official could walk into a base with his team, assault several members of staff, attempt to kidnap a boy, admit to having and planning to continue to run illegal experiments on him and others, admit to having altered the memories of other Plumber officials, all in front of the entire base, and nothing was done until he tried to kill the golden child Ben 10 and failed, got his ass kicked by one of his victims, and in a place where presumably there were security cameras? And that the response was, again, to sentence him and his team without trial, take all the evidence, and peace out without so much as looking at nonetheless apologizing to his victims? Yeah, that don't fly. Doesn't sound like an organization that has it's shit together. Either the Plumbers don't have their shit together or the higher ups were in on it until it became something that could actually damage their reputation, and either way I Do Not Approve.

They're pretty cool. I know everyone's talking about how Plumbers are space cops and therefore absolutely corrupt and bad but this is a fictional universe in which corruption in organized forces isn't a necessity. Plumbers don't function the same way real cops do, they don't follow they same chain of command, they don't have the same motivations and they definitely don't have the same biases. Plumbers perform an essential function in the Ben 10 universe, which is to capture and contain aliens who aim to hurt anyone (or those who Ben defeats).

My knowledge of the Plumbers' unfortunately doesn't go beyond UA. They're not my favorite thing ever. Some of my least favorite episodes were the ones where the Plumbers or Plumbers' kids are involved, except for the episode "Everybody Talks About the Weather". The way Alan is introduced is really cool and very X Files-esque, and it ties into the DNAlien plot very well. But throughout the series I stopped caring about the Plumbers in general and I think that concept was given too much attention.

They don't do what they're meant to. They act like heros yet I don't think I've ever seen them do anything heroic. The DNAliens situation, the aggregor situation, dagon etc etc. Where were they??? Why did they leave the fate of the universe in the hands of a 16 year-old boy? Ben has the omnitrix sure , but he's still just one guy, how much can he fight? They showed up every once in a while but that's it. They were useless.

Of course the Plumbers have their problems, but looking at most characters we've met that were plumbers seem to be pretty good people. Max, Patelliday and Rook (and even Kevin, technically) are great examples of Plumbers, Servantis being a bad example of one.

Honestly liked it when it was disbanded. It’s cool they introduced Rook but like there’s so much wrong with how they run most things. My favorite version of the plumbers was tbh the first live action movie. Where it was just a bunch of old people watching out for Ben cause they actually cared about the people they protected (in this case Ben).

Q4. Thoughts on Grandpa Max

(The responses to this one were way more divided than I thought they would be omg)

He said Kevin was a mad dog that needed to put down. He's terrible. Military. Secretive. Kept his kids out of the loop and probably told the grandkids not to tell them about a huge and extremely dangerous part of their lives. Thus creating a gap between them and their parents that didn't need to be there. Child endangerment. Other than that....? He's important to Ben and Gwen so I tolerate him and he had some good life lessons to share. Also legendary adult figure in a kids cartoon who had relationships with multiple aliens.

He’s incredible, he worked in the Air Force, was going to be one of the first people on the moon (But he refused because he joined the Plumbers) had children with an Energy Being, he has a few grandchildren, and not to mention knows how to still kick butt despite him being in his 60s and was there to help Ben grow

He’s a complicated old man. Love him to bits in the original run and I love him in AF! He’s a utilitarian doing what needs to be done and suffering the consequences when need be. He does what he thinks is going to lead to the best possible outcome for the most people in any situation.

Needs to get knocked off his pedestal more often, both in and out of canon. He's got good traits, they're very nice, but there's other shit that gets glossed over, ignored, brushed aside, too easily forgiven, and just. They really needed a character who served double duty being a counterforce to him. Somebody to go 'wtf is wrong with you?' or 'yeah, no'. Ideally this would've been Patilidae, but no. We couldn't be so lucky.

Conflicted. Was he grooming Ben for plumber work, or just trying to support him in a situation he knew would be dangerous? It’s not made very clear...

I think he's got some sort of narcissistic personality disorder. I just can't forgive him for making Ben carry the burden of the Omnitrix at the age of 10 without ever explaining anything, and for not letting Ben and Gwen know he was alive after the Null Void grenade incident in AF. He clearly could have, if Helen could reach Gwen so easily. I think he views Ben more as an asset than a grandson at this point and that's really sad.

I love him! The progression from family hero to questionable old man felt kinda natural, like learning about a family member as you grow older and realizing they aren't perfect

He's awesome. He was a good role model for Ben and he was very supportive to both his grandkids. I hate that they made him mute in Omniverse and changed his design so drastically. I loved Max in every season from the original till Ultimate Alien. After that, he was pretty much just a prop.

Q5. And finally, give me your most controversial Ben 10 opinion!

It seems to be the worst thing to say that Ben isn't perfect and that Kai isn't demonic. And it's pretty standard for the women of color characters in every fandom to get the most hate so to me all the hate towards Kai when her personality is so close to Ben's AND she's also more hated than the ex-villain and the actual villains that tried to kill Ben multiple times just seems- hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. But really, and really I've needed to say this for a long time but I'm afraid of being strangled. Some fans will denounce incest/pedo shippers and people that interact with them and then reblog from a proud Bwen shipper with no self-awareness. Please I have the tags blacklisted are you safe to interact with and you just don't know? Or you're just saying you hate Bwen shippers to give yourself an out for reblogging their content????? Or are you all closeted incest shippers trying to maintain a public image???? I'm at my limit.

I do not think the reboot should have existed tbh :,D I know that it has a ton of fans and all due respect to them, but from what I've seen of it I don't think it was worth tossing away four interconnected series' worth of development and starting from scratch to end up with what we have now. I would be fine with it existing if we got an Omniverse continuation alongside it, but CN screwed OV over by the decisions they made near the end of it's run. So it's probably impossible it would return, even moreso because of the reboot already airing, and it would probably confuse younger audiences that don't know about Omniverse if two Ben 10's were running separately. I just really miss Omniverse, it had more potential and the reboot placed the final nail in for it to ever return.

The Ben 10 reboot is fun and meant more for kids rather than the ones watching for nostalgia. I didn’t like how Gwevin were sidelined and downplayed to make Ben look better. Sometimes it felt like Gwen was a bit naggy towards the two of them. I didn’t like how the fact that she was the only female lead how she had sometimes act like a parent or that they put Gwen and Kevin together just because. Their relationship felt forced and awkward a lot of the time. Omniverse’s designs while controversial were fun and unique but I didn’t like what they did with Gwevin, especially Gwen.

Kevin is totally smart enough to figure out an Omnitrix with the blueprints in front of him, we see him do amazing shit with technology- including the Omnitrix- in the OG series, people just don't notice he's as brilliant as Gwen because the show never made it as big a point that he and Ben were so very smart like it did with her before the reboot, so now they're being forced to acknowledge that Kevin might have two braincells to rub together and they're pushing against the supposed 'change'.

idk if it's controversial but there should've been way more episodes of just gwen & kevin & rook without ben or ben having a very minor role in the episode. just more time for those three to shine and show off how capable they are without ben always having to come in to save the day at the end

Gwen and Kevin aren't good friends to Ben. I mean they were initially, but once he got famous and they didn't, they stopped putting more than a half-assed effort to help him. They also don't really consider his feelings nor really care about the toll heroing takes on him.

The Reboot has the best jokes in the entire franchise and I don't why people give it so much crap.

Kai Green is an abuser and I refuse to find anything redeemable about her character. "Worthy to wield Excalibur," my entire ass. And Ben and Julie's breakup was good for them both, as people, and just as much her fault as it was his.

Ben 10 is an incredibly flawed show and people need to stop getting butt hurt when the blatant misogyny, and copoganda in the show get pointed out or when any even minority critiques Ben's character.

Ben is the worst character in Ben 10 and the whole franchise would be better off without him.

Azmuth is fine for the most part and malware was not exactly the most understanding person

I think Ben should've stayed single. Every episode where romance (or the girl Ben was dating) was the focus of the episode was pretty boring to me, personally.

Ben's parents were right to try to stop him from being a hero, so were Gwen's.

Ultimate alien force season 2 and 3 were amazing.( not comparing the OS since obviously that's the best, or omniverse since I haven't watched all the episodes of that)

Pierce deserved to die for being a boring character. I just wish his death had actual consequences.

The reboot is a genuine improvement over the original continuity in MANY ways!

Oh geez, um, Kai was a good character, just her and ben were obviously toxic. Not everyone needs to like Ben and she isn't an abuser, they just don't get along and that's fine but by God, why did the writers have to force them in a relationship? That's all I could really think of on the spot. Oh! And that the first two season of AF were a watered down version of Ben and the plot focused more on Gwen and Kevin than it did Ben. He felt like a side character and I'm not mad about that, but I don't understand why people praise that characterization of ben when I remember more about gwen and Kevin then Ben. Dude, I've been watching the show for the past week and I can name more about kevin and gwen because they're memorable.

Azmuth's hot af, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation...

----

If you’ve made it this far then thank you!

Again huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response and if you have any questions/comments please feel free to leave them in the replies/send me an ask/dm/whatever ^^

[dear-wormwoods]

Someone truly in the reddie tag saying Myra was not abusive and that she wasn’t like Sonia. Even saying Bev and Eddie don’t have similar arcs bc their abusive situations were entirely different and that people just reach to bend arguments in order to prove reddie. Biggest bs I have read in a while ahdhd

I’m assuming you are new to my blog, because uhh, I’m sorry to burst your bubble anon, but I am also someone who doesn’t consider Myra abusive. Idk what post you’re talking about specifically but I’d sure like to know what ‘proving reddie’ has to do with it, lol. But anyway, I have said before that I consider Eddie’s marriage to be toxic, but not abusive. These two people should not be married. And not just because Eddie is gay and doesn’t love her. Beyond that, they are definitely bad for each other. The entire marriage is a conduit for misery and deception. It’s a codependent circus of projection and enabling. It’s unhealthy as hell! But it isn’t abusive. And here’s why I think that: 

Stephen King wasn’t trying to make a point that Sonia and Myra are exactly the same. He was, however, making a point that when people enter into adulthood and adult relationships while carrying a bunch of baggage from trauma they never properly dealt with, the cycle will continue in one way or another (this is why Eddie and Bev are ‘parallel’ characters, not the surface-level abuse interpretation). Eddie suffered from emotional abuse for most of his life; Sonia was very calculating and intentional about it and made sure that she always held sway in Eddie’s life to suit her own needs. The result is that Eddie is a very inexperienced and sheltered adult who believes in all of the lies his mother told him. He tried to move out three times and failed each time. Sonia controlled him until the day she died. It’s all Eddie knows. So in his mid-thirties, alone in the world for the first time, he doesn’t know how to take care of himself and, more importantly, believes he can’t learn. Because of his history of abuse and control, Eddie can’t fathom taking the reins in his own life and instead seeks out someone who will take care of him the way he’s become accustomed to. 

So, Eddie meets Myra and latches onto her because she’s inexperienced and malleable, like him. She physically reminds him of his mother, so it’s easy for him to project onto her all of the abuse Sonia inflicted on him. And because that life was all he knew, it was also what made him feel comfortable, so he nudged Myra into the role he wanted her to fill - a replacement mom. He did this subconsciously at first, but he was able to recognize it before they got married… and then he decided to go through with it anyway. 

Eddie brought a lot of baggage into that relationship, baggage that Myra was most likely completely unaware of. Obviously he’s a repressed gay man, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Eddie doesn’t love Myra, but it’s not just because he’s gay, it’s also because he has created a maternal figure in her and, since he (rightfully) resents his mother, he also resents Myra. She conforms to that caretaker role and enables everything he’s learned from a life with Sonia, and he in turn enables her bad habits too. Enabling is toxic behavior, but it isn’t inherently abusive. 

But then, when he leaves to go back to Derry, it all comes to a head. She freaks out because as far as she knows, he’s very sick, and he’s leaving her without an explanation, this man who she is married to and financially dependent on. She has no idea how to communicate, so she resorts to panicky, emotionally manipulative attempts to get him to talk to her and stay. On the flipside, Eddie has no idea how to communicate with her either, so he withholds information, deflects, and snaps at her in moments of frustration. They both have irrational thoughts about hurting each other and they both do and say things that make the situation worse. They are both VERY bad at communication. Because they’re both grown adults with almost no relationship experience outside of each other and are therefore emotionally stunted. 

That whole chapter reads, to me, like “bad breakups 101″ - one person can’t articulate how they feel so they’re deflecting and coming off as cold, and the other person is so over the top emotional that they end up making no sense and coming off as hysterical. And it’s no wonder! If you make it to your late 30′s without ever having much of a social circle or relationship experience, you’re not going to know how to act in a situation like this. And this applies to both of them. If what Eddie says about her is true, this is probably the first time Myra has ever been left by a partner, and it’s happening suddenly and with no explanation. So, she’s hysterical and resorts to manipulation - not out of habit, but out of desperation (Eddie makes the distinction that this isn’t typical behavior for her!!). For Eddie’s part, this is the first major decision he’s made in probably his whole life, and he doesn’t know how to explain himself, so he just… decides not to. And because he does not love Myra, he is completely emotionally detached from her. Their individual reactions to the situation just make it worse for them both - Eddie shutting down makes Myra more hysterical, and her hysterics cause him to shut down more.

People like to cite a couple of damning quotes about Myra as proof that she’s exactly like Sonia, but making that argument requires you to actively ignore the damning quotes about Eddie. There are also quite a few quotes that highlight the differences between her and Sonia, things Eddie himself acknowledges, as well as quotes about the guilt he feels for knowingly projecting his own baggage onto this woman. (Note: see the posts linked at the end of this for a breakdown of all those quotes) The text makes it clear that this was never a happy marriage. Neither of them are better for being in each other’s lives. They don’t help each other become healthier people. Rather, they both actively enable each other’s toxic habits. The marriage is, in a lot of ways, a form of self-harm for Eddie, and he knows it - upon Sonia’s death, he exited the cage his mother built for him and then built a new cage for himself and threw the key at Myra’s feet. For her part, I believe Myra began as an unwitting enabler but ultimately realized that she gained a “purpose” from the relationship (being a caretaker, being “needed”) and subsequently turned a blind eye to all the ways it wasn’t actually a healthy marriage. 

This is such a long post already but I want to make it very clear that Eddie’s cycle of abuse continuing does not actually require Myra herself to be abusive - rather, it is Eddie’s projection onto her that exacerbates the toxic environment. It’s the ghost of Sonia that haunts him in that chapter and throughout the rest of the novel. Myra is not a villain in Eddie’s life - he hardly even thinks about her after he leaves. This is one of the main points that make Eddie and Bev’s parallel arcs different - Bev very clearly has a secondary villain in her life, Tom, and she gets the closure of him dying in the end. But Eddie doesn’t need closure about his marriage, because Myra is just an extension of what Sonia did to him. 

The one time he does think of her unprompted is during his walking tour, and it’s such a great example of what his marriage actually means for him: when faced with the leper offering him a blowjob and other IT manifestations, he wishes he was home with Myra. He doesn’t think of her badly - he’s not afraid of her in any way. But she represents his comfort zone. IT is forcing him to confront things like his repressed sexuality, and he decidedly does not want to do that. That’s the only moment he “misses” Myra. But he doesn’t actually miss Myra. He misses the way her enabling allowed him to escape from having to face himself. And that’s really what it comes down to - Eddie’s marriage is toxic because it’s an escape, a way for him to avoid having to grow as a person and face the hard realities of who he is and what his mother has done to him. Myra isn’t evil, she’s not a calculating abuser like Sonia was, but she is toxic because her very presence prevents Eddie from reaching his full potential and being happy. 

Sonia’s abuse permeates Eddie’s entire life, even well after her death. Her actions dictate how he sees himself, as well as how he acts in relationships. Sonia is the reason Eddie’s marriage is the way it is. Hell, Sonia is the reason Eddie’s marriage exists in the first place. It is Sonia’s ghost that continues to manipulate him throughout the book and it is Sonia’s voice he needs to overcome in the end. If Myra were truly abusive, she would matter more in the overarching narrative of Eddie’s trip to Derry. But she doesn’t matter and because of that, she’s never really given a personality or motivations. She’s truly a blank canvas for Eddie to project his issues onto, and then he simultaneously berates himself for projecting and resents her for existing within his projections. Through all of this, everything always comes back to Sonia. Due to the vast disparity between their respective levels of influence, placing Myra on equal footing with Sonia is, in my opinion, a form of downplaying how bad Sonia truly was. 

Finally, and it’s wild that this even needs to be said, people need to recognize that saying ‘Myra isn’t abusive’ is NOT the same thing as saying she did nothing wrong. Myra was an enabler and that’s not okay, whether she meant to be or not. She also had moments of manipulation, terrible communication skills and poor emotional regulation. She was a toxic presence in Eddie’s life. Saying she isn’t abusive doesn’t mean I’m excusing her actions. But it’s also important to recognize that the chapter in which she appears has a lot more nuance to it than some people realize, and it’s necessary to hold Eddie accountable for his part in making that night so difficult. On that note, holding Eddie accountable and recognizing his harmful moments is not the same as calling him abusive either (fsr that’s become some kind of urban legend, but literally no one ever said he was! ever!!). There does not always have to be an abuser and a victim - sometimes bad relationships are just… bad.

Eddie is obviously a lot more sympathetic than Myra because we know about his past and get his POV. We know that he’s a good person. We also know that Sonia is the root of all of his issues. But the fact is, he has some shitty moments in that chapter, just as Myra does! His past experiences are not an excuse for that, they’re just an explanation. And, because I know there are people out there who equate accountability with victim blaming, being able to recognize where Eddie went wrong and why he entered into this marriage to begin with is NOT the same as saying he deserved any of his misery. There’s a huge, huge difference between accountability and blame. Holding people, even fictional characters, accountable is a good thing. In the end, Eddie is a very damaged person - an inherently good person, to be sure, but sometimes damaged people who are inherently good can, and often do, create, foster, and contribute to unhealthy relationships. It can’t all be unquestioningly pinned on Myra. 

Anyway, if after all of that you’re still confused as to why some people choose not to use the abuse label, here’s some additional reading:

An amazing breakdown of the entire chapter, using quotes, by @tossertozier

A more recent & shorter breakdown using quotes by @richietozierhateblog 

[troxk]

okay so eddie’s d**** in it: chapter 2, yeah? literally, what is the purpose of it. as far as i can tell, it was wholly unnecessary from a narrative perspective and that makes me angry!! i haven’t read the book yet, so not sure if it’s the same deal, but eddie dying felt like it had little to no thematic significance in that movie. what does eddie’s death tell us about childhood trauma or the nature of memory or the power of trust and sacrifice to overcome evil, or any other of the story’s themes? it does Nothing for any of those crucial aspects because in the movie, eddie’s death isn’t a sacrifice, isn’t a reflection of the desperation that’s built up over 27 years and so much pain, as could’ve perhaps justified his death. a good thematic use of death is stan’s death (even though i hate it) because it represents not only the horrifying reappearance of childhood trauma in adulthood, but also later demonstrates the strength of sacrifice. eddie’s death in the movie is tragic and moving, but it’s fundamentally nothing more than a mistake because he didn’t mean to die. he SHOULDN’T have died because even beyond not furthering the story’s themes, it actually COUNTERACTS a lot of the thematic development that had already occurred. the whole idea that if you believe in your actions, trust your and your friends’ abilities despite fear is something i’d say andy muschietti developed quite well throughout the runtime, and eddie throwing the fence piece felt like the logical culmination of one of the movie’s key themes. 

and then they decided to undermine eddie’s belief and bravery, his entire character arc over both movies, this complex theme at the heart of the story. for no reason at all.

because death can obviously be an incredibly useful tool in fiction to drive the plot or assist the characterisation of other characters. don’t get me wrong, it absolutely should not be used for this purpose at the expense of thematic exploration. but even giving the movie this pass, death as a plot/character motivator is NOT something we should be seeing so late in the story and ESPECIALLY not in the middle of a fast-paced action climax that is essentially the final scene of the movie. i’d go so far as to say it can’t be used in this way. death can be a useful motivator, but that late in the story, there’s nowhere to drive the plot or characters. eddie’s death is sad but ultimately has no significant effect on the outcome of the losers’ fight with pennywise - had he not died they DEFINITELY would have ended up using the ‘make him feel small’ tactic, and perhaps even sooner since it was EDDIE WHO FIGURED IT OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE. additionally, his dying can’t develop his character, his decision to believe he could kill pennywise did (a huge moment of character development for him that the movie immediately shits on). and his dying doesn’t develop any of the other characters because it’s way too late in the story for that! there’s no time to properly examine the impact of his death on the others (not that this stopped mr andy from trying, giving us that mischaracterised, half-assed quarry scene with everyone laughing - juxtaposed nicely with a heartbroken richie. not a good closing sentiment for your series, andy! that’s not how good storytelling works! you’re meant to actually give your characters satisfying, and at the very least, plausible, endings). so yeah, no use as a characterisation device either.

again, i’ll mention i haven’t read the book and i understand that the movies want to be faithful to mr king’s literary genius blah blah but people take artistic liberties, evidenced frequently in the modern adaptations. so @mr andy: stop being lazy, if you can change one part, you can change another, especially when the other part is as nonsensical and pointless as your movie accidentally framed it.

so tl:dr eddie’s death in it:chapter 2 had no necessity as a thematic, plot or characterisation device, actively made all these narrative aspects WORSE and MORE CONFUSING and just to top it all off: the head clown himself decided it was a good idea to have a literal - in all senses of the word - ‘bury your gays’ ending. i’m :) tired :)

[unwanted-animal]

Hey John! Have you been keeping up with ouat? I stopped watching right before rumple has really short hair? What's happened since?

this is gonna be long erin i’m so sorry 

-sucks in a breath-

So S5 ended with Belle putting herself in a sleeping curse so Rumple could save their baby. He does, and when he get back to storybrooke he takes Hades’ magic crystal and takes the magic from Storybrooke so he can try to wake her. He goes to new york, henry and violet and emma and regina chase him because wanting to wake your pregnant wife is TOTES EVIL GAIS so Snow tells the new villain, Mr. Hyde, that Rumple’s trying to wake his pregnant wife so Hyde steals her and they have to go to the land of untold stories to get her back

s6 starts with rumple getting her back and he goes to “Morpheus”, god of dreams, to wake her. but in the dream, when he’s trying to ease belle’s nightmares and wake her, “Morpheus” reveals himself to be their son all grown up somehow even though he’s a fetus inside belle and now belle is mad at rumple for tricking her when he DIDNT FUCKING DO ANYTHING and so her unborn fetus kisses her and she wakes up and she storms back to storybrooke because reasons apparently.

Anyway she breaks up with rumple AGAIN - they’re married, I want to point out - and goes to stay on the jolly roger because living with the man who tried to kill you three times is apparently better than living with your husband who hasn;’t done ANYTHING wrong in a whole season but what the fuck ever right? anyway hyde is loose and rumple puts a spell on the boat to protect belle and keep the bad guys out but SURPRISE Dr Jekyll is the real bad guy and he was??? already on the boat??? so Hyde uses the dagger to force rumple to stand around useless as Jekyll tries to kill belle

and Captain Rape Bro gets to save her because this show can’t do a fucking thing without trying to paint Admitted Serial Killer and Drunk Captain Hook in a good light

rumple can’t like. look himself in the eyes in a mirror. so he cuts his hair because bob had to cut it for Trainspotting 2 and all their wigs were terrible and could not capture the majesty of the floof

so Belle yells terrible things at rumple for using the spell on the boat and says he cut his hair??? for her??? when no he did it because he hates himself you’ve known him for like a hundred years belle wtf and rumple gets mad and says yeah you’ll only be with me when you need me for something and they stay apart

Belle, throughout the next half season arc, continues to fucking come by rumple’s shop just to insult him. meanwhile regina drinks the potion to separate her and the evil queen just like hyde and jekyll did so the EQ is just. free. because lana is amazing and they wanted two of her. so, fuck yeah for that. but the EQ wants to jump Rumple’s bones even though they’ve NEVER had that sort of relationship and it was always mentor/student - you know, because rumple was in love with C O R A. Her MOM. 

anyway eq is like hey look we can speed up the pregnancy and rumple’s like alright and she kisses him a bunch and he goes to see belle but he doesn’t use the potion. belle uses the ‘IF YOU DO THIS WE’LL NEVER GET BACK TOGETHER’ line she’s been using since s5 because nothing says true love like literal emotional manipulation

so rumple dumps the eq 

there’s like some shears that can cut the strands of fate??? rumple wanted to use them to free their son from any ties to the darkness(tm) but hook gets a hold of them and rumple has decided that was dumb anyway

Belle refuses to let rumple anywhere near her or the child so when the EQ speeds up her pregnancy- which she blames rumple for, ugh - she gives baby Gideon to the Shady Blue Fairy.

Who gets beat up.

The baby is taken by the black fairy, rumple’s mum, and like taken to a land where he’s aged up into an emo brat

and again, belle blames rumple for this

also emma has dreams about a cloaked figure killing her and she thinks it’s regina but she’s also super anxious because OH NO SHE WANTS TO BE HOOK’S HAPPY ENDING BECAUSE HE DESERVES ONE AND SHE WANTS TO GIVE HIM BABIES TO MAKE HIM HAPPY and Archie is like “fuck this y’all need Jaybus they don’t pay me enough for this shit”

Anyway the figure turns out to be Gideon who wants to be the saviour.... because???

for some stupid reason Snowing is cursed so one half of them is always a sleep i think the EQ did that i don’t know

anyway the EQ gets ahold of... the lamp? something? and makes a wish that emma gets put in like her perfect world so she’s put into a wish realm where she’s a princess and she married Bae but he died and her parents are still the rulers and it’s kinda cute but Regina follows her in and pretends to be the EQ so she can wake emma up and she does!

Also hook’s old and grey and has a huge beer gut and it revitalized me

So emma and regina are gonna go home but then! LO! A ROBIN HOOD!

robin’s not even a hero anymore he’s just a fuckin layabout thief

in a Gay Panic(tm) regina’s like eeeeyyyyy come home with us bc i can’t exist without a white man in my life apparently and they have to go find pinnochio who’s still a shifty bastard and they go through a tree wardrobe back to storybrooke because fuck continuity 

and now gideon is back and he’s emoing all over storybrooke and there’s sexual tension between him and rumple ‘cause he blames rumple even though rumple didn’t do??? a fucking thing??? and rumple’s like ‘fine then punish me’ chicka bow but gideon’s dead set on becoming the saviour so prances about in his voldemort cloak and belle’s like ‘shit we messed up’ and i’m like ‘YOU messed up miss gold but whatever’ and they seem to be bonding but we all know adam and eddy hate the rumbelle fandom so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who knows

and that’s about where we are right now, s6 is still airing and it’s bad