mysteryflavorsoda

[mysteryflavorsoda]

Rurik Liderc and the stereotype of the broken (but sexy) anti-hero

(and how it makes him worse as a character)

Heyy, I'm back, kind of! This is my first actual rant, so I'm sorry if it's a bit boring or confusing. Feel free to ask me anything! This is just something that I've always had looming in the back of my mind, and I really want to talk about it. 

In October 2005, Pop Punk band Green Day released their seventh studio album, American Idiot. It follows the life of the central character, Jesus Of Suburbia, a middle-lower-class all-American teen who hates his town and pretty much everything. He's pretentious, a rebel, angsty; a faithless, working-class man who hates the system he's placed in, screaming for the rebels living in post-2000s America. It comes as no surprise, then, that @angeutblogo's Lasser would inspire her iconic character, Rurik Lidérc, off the song that describes this main character.

As the years went by, Rurik gained more and more traits, hobbies, a story, friends, and of course, multiple lovers. As it is today, you could call him a multifaceted character- I'm here to say that this perhaps might've been his downfall, too. As it stands, Rurik is a badly constructed character, where new information contradicts old information and traits that are not in line with the logic set upon him initially are imposed. It seems that the creators try and stuff him to the brim with different exciting ideas, but ultimately end up getting a messy clump of characteristics that results in many users having to redefine him with headcannons and rereadings, myself included, because he ends up being so confusing.

First, Rurik being a US Army veteran is one of the biggest pillars in his personality. Although not a lot of information is revealed about that part of his life specifically and the effects it had on him, we can deduce that it greatly affected him in more than one way, changing him fundamentally; PTSD. A prime example is that Lasser has stated that he has an aversion to loud noises, such as fireworks and thunder, but then proceeds to state that it only makes him have a minimal response of being "more alert". How can he be fundamentally changed as a person due to trauma and still only suffer minor damage? Are the creators afraid of making a character that's fully and realistically traumatized by war because it would compromise his appealing "sexy bad boy" nature? But then, that very nature is driven forward by the very fact that he's traumatized, that he's "angsty". It just confuses me how posts speaking of his trauma are immediately followed by posts describing his kinks and hypersexuality, and descriptions of his mental state are switched out for retellings of future events where "everything is all right finally", not bothering to make him go through the process of recovery, and research of trauma responses or toxic relationships is traded for discussions of what motorbike he has. It almost seems like the creators want him to be many different things that cancel each other out.

Thus, this contradiction leads us to the next point: Dante and Rurik have an open relationship, despite Rurik being shown to be possessive and emotionally immature. Rurik is, in simple terms, a manchild at times, stalking Dante when he feels like it, being insecure, and being sad by small things Dante says, in addition to threatening his exes. Those are toxic, insecure behaviours, of course, but it gets brushed off as "oh, but it ends in them sexually punishing each other" (going into how their relationship is sexualized, but that's a topic for another day), which in itself is contradicting because it's written to be a healthy relationship that's good for the both of them. And yet, we get bombarded with recounts of Dante being toxic to Rurik and vice-versa. He's also said to get extremely uncomfortable when Dante flirts with other women because he "can't compare", so how on earth could they have an open relationship without constant interventions and fights?

I believe that, if Rurik is insecure, it would naturally cause him to believe that Dante is replacing him if he flirted with another person. This is because he has a fragile ego, and people like him tend to fall into that insecurity (speaking out of experience and my interest in human psychology), and it would lead to constant fights, doubts, manipulation, and overall a bona fide toxic couple. Perhaps even worse than Lurik, as Dante is constantly described as psychopathic and manipulative, even to Rurik himself. They're shown to kind of fix everything with sex and "punishments", downplaying the other's insecurities and genuine feelings and promoting unhealthy dynamics. Rurik is not written to be someone who could have an open relationship that would be fair to himself and Dante, and yet, they push on, because of course they do; they are entirely centred around having sex, after all.

So, where am I going with all this? In all the glamourized media that we see, there's a strong tendency to try and make perfect characters. Rurik Lidérc is broken, angsty, insecure, and repressed, but that doesn't get in his way at all! All he wants is sex, drugs, and rock and roll. He reminds me of James Hurley from Twin Peaks: his conflict can be so well-explored, his trauma could be so fleshed out and the effects of trauma on the human mind could have given us a beautiful story of redemption, of growth, of understanding. But God, he just keeps making out with Donna all the damn time, and the camera always focuses on him like he's in a Playboy magazine. The realism, the beauty, the relatability- it's all sacrificed for middle schoolers to ogle at him and go "Wow, he's so misunderstood! I could fix him!". But that comes at the cost of a character that has the full potential to be truly amazing, as I've seen with my friends in the fandom.

When you look at Rurik Lidérc, he comes across as well-researched because he's traumatized, but it doesn't take long before you realize that that's quite a far-fetched idea. It seems like he's just a list of ideas and randomness that no one bothers to organize, and that deeply saddens me because I've seen the interesting directions he could be taken in, and I just wish the love and care put into this character also shined through through the creators.

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i hate going to the hospital because they make me go to pediatric treatment even though my birthday is in 3 weeks. conclusion: rurik (@angeutblogo) as the police dog from paw patrol happened

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rurik (@angeutblogo )dressing as patrick bateman for halloween (ignore the miscellaneous doodles around AJSBAHS)

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the sillies are the smiling friends (real). im crying

What's Palette's workload about? And will the multiverse helping team of his eventually expand with more members? :0

Palette has the innate motivation to go and cheer up others who are down, discouraged and sad; people who have lost their inspiration or motivation 🎉; and of course, protecting the AU's along the way from other beings who want to intervene… all this behind his parents, since he does it in his own way and at his own pace. But so much responsibility is too heavy for his shoulders, so he wanted to create a small support group to give a hand to those who need it throughout the universe 👍

He definitely has the idea of integrating more members who want to be part of his cause!, but since he is still inexperienced, he prefers to trust those closest to him.

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Getting used each other...

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Honestly I’ve never been just so upset over a fictional ship not being canon because not only did Palette finally have some love to give and just how much he shows it to people, but we got to see him in action and not just some silly who is oblivious to everything!

That was a year worth of Palette and Due lore like, wow a Pal ship that isn’t requited and actually has backstory/build-up/what their relationship is like. Only for it to not be real or canon and “it’s all just in another timeline”

These two actually have their own personalities without having to revolve around the other that much and how they’re just so meant to be together so the impact is just severe man (also with the fact it’s been stated they’re canon in a few posts is just upsetting)

Magma doodle + Due coded song

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duelette and their creators on august 6th, 2023

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SOBS SO LOUD DUELETTE RIGHTS AAAAAGHHHH REVOLUTIONNNN

Honestly I’ve never been just so upset over a fictional ship not being canon because not only did Palette finally have some love to give and just how much he shows it to people, but we got to see him in action and not just some silly who is oblivious to everything!

That was a year worth of Palette and Due lore like, wow a Pal ship that isn’t requited and actually has backstory/build-up/what their relationship is like. Only for it to not be real or canon and “it’s all just in another timeline”

These two actually have their own personalities without having to revolve around the other that much and how they’re just so meant to be together so the impact is just severe man (also with the fact it’s been stated they’re canon in a few posts is just upsetting)

Magma doodle + Due coded song

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THIS IS A SAD DAY. what the hell is going on man

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I ALWAYS KNEW RURIK WAS A GREEN DAY GUY. JUST LOOK AT HIM. my day is made

Holaa, con una amiga nos preguntábamos: para hacer a Rurik, ¿se inspiraron de Strade de Boyfriend to Death? Tienen unas re similitudes

(Tuve que buscar quién era porque no sabia nada y si... que loco, tienen similitudes 😆)

Pero nope, no está inspirado en ese personaje, ni en nadie realmente. Si pudiera decir algo en concreto, sería el estilo "Punk-Rock" del principio del 2000 👌 Por que estaba escuchando "Jesus of suburbia" de Green Day cuando lo pensé :>

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⭐Happy 7th Birthday Palette!⭐

Many years have passed since then, so many things, ups and downs... but despite everything, I must thank all those little people out there who still remember this little marshmellow. Creating Palette was one of the best things I could have done.

Thank you, really thank you very much to all those people who remember him and I hope he continues to make all of you very happy. I'm glad I contributed something.

I'm very grateful ⭐

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Reasons why I think Durik the ship is cool (lazy edition)

-They're the most michevious powercouple ever and I'm here for it, they took be gay do crime very seriously

-Their needs match because they both like doing.. uh... stuff a lot. Which is important in a relationship I think

-They are ready to do something together even if they don't like it (I'm looking at you fishing art)

-They actually talk about feelings unlike soMeOne. Top secret though because Rurik only trusts Dante enough with it from what I remember. Which is a good sign, it means Dante was good enough to be let in on the knowledge hehe

-Look how cute Rurik is about Dante. I'm happy the info on his blog relates to the other and vice versa, relationships are a big part of everyday life there's no way around it!

-Dante works in a shitty job just to have a lot of money and afford things for Rurik, this is called dedication

-Dani knows how to tame Rurikus pospolitus demon and there are not many that can, we gotta respect him for that too

Correct me if I'm wrong guys

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The Loray (Lotus x Ray) pinterest board that no one asked for is here!♡

☆★ — pin.it / 4qfnZwC (no space when pasted to browser)

It's all cluttered but yah! Mostly just Tumblr quotes and just them being totally homies~☆

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AMERICAAAAAA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅RATATATATATATATATAT

Since Rurik is american, would he be into stereotypical american things, like hunting animals (maybe he needs his ingredients fresh to cook xD), ranged shooting?

Yep, he actually likes to go hunting. He and Dante share that and usually go in the allowed season. He prefers small animals like hares, the big ones take a lot of work. And he wants to have fun for a while, not work.

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watched fight club today…

thinking of redrawing some scenes of tyler/marla as lurik.. sobs, this is literally rurik’s movie going insane