#The youngest in Wellston history
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Arlo’s Height
I’m gonna say it right here and now: making Arlo super short as a Freshman and Sophomore is the funniest decision Uru has ever made— hands down. It gets me rolling every damn time.
But beyond that, it’s symbolic. I’ve mentioned the symbolism of Arlo’s height before— he’s 6’3”, and he is never once drawn next to someone taller than him. He commands the authority in every room he walks into, and his posture is immaculate. You see Arlo and you just know: that is the King. Arlo's height symbolizes power.
But in these flashbacks, Arlo is shorter than everyone. He’s around the same height as freshman Remi. Not only is he short, he has a bad case of baby face. This is more than a visual shorthand for the audience— the other characters pick up on it as well. His behavior is the same, but he is respected so much less. People perceive Arlo as young and weak. He has to work thrice as hard to get anything done because he has to prove himself constantly.
This parallels his struggles as King exactly. As we know from what he tells Blyke, Arlo had a lot of trouble in his first year as King. The Sophomores and upperclassmen all rejected him because he was Rei’s successor, the school was chaos, and the other Royals refused to work with him. In flashbacks, we can see that the freshmen don’t respect him either because he looks unimposing. The timeline matches up perfectly— he is short, he is disregarded. He is tall— he is respected.
Arlo’s height both symbolizes and contributes to how much power he has.
#I just find it so interesting how Arlo had to fight tooth and nail to get any respect#but by the time the story starts#all he has to do is walk into the room.#It’s both his appearance and his reputation that makes this difference#which REALLY explains why he cares so much about his reputation btw#he worked so hard for it.#This is also why I think Arlo’s growth spurt happened in his sophomore year#or possibly in between his sophomore and junior year#because he had the school’s respect by junior year.#There’s also something to be said about the fact that he actually was really young#The youngest in Wellston history#And the struggles that must bring and how that ties into how he is received by the school#UnOrdinary#arlo unordinary#analysis
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No one in unordinary has a backstory (besides the obvious exception) so here’s my two cents (headcanons) on Arlo’s history
He was born out of wedlock (I promise this is relevant to The Way That He Is in canon)
When his parents met his father was a middle aged very influential government official who did make a bit of an effort to be in Arlo’s life, but had a whole nother family. Arlo was primarily raised by his mom during his early childhood. Arlo’s ability comes from his fathers side, and val is his paternal aunt
Arlo’s father tries to be affectionate, genial old man, but. He’s just quintessentially unprepared to help raise a young child. He’s also in his 70s during canon so he’s very out of touch to what Arlo’s life is even like. Arlo is mostly just standoffishly polite to him
Arlos mother was a broke college student when he was born. She felt like a failure for getting pregnant before doing anything with her life, so she kind of unconsciously externalized that onto arlo- “if I raise this child to successfully enough, I won’t have failed as a parent and as a person”
She was unyieldingly strict and demanding at all times. She always pushed him to get stronger, to raise himself in the hierarchy because it was her way of proving that she was doing something valuable. She loves him, but maybe not as much as the idea of him. I don’t think she was abusive, but certainly just. Not a Good Mom
It kinda works out for them because arlo inherits his dads power and absolutely excels at it. He measures himself by hierarchy but it hasn’t destroyed his self esteem because. Turns out he’s pretty great at hierarchy actually
At some point Arlo’s mom sends him to live full time with his dad because he can provide so many more opportunities for him. It’s a pretty cushy lifestyle
Arlo has 3 half siblings from his dads side that are all MUCH older than him, like 14 years older at the youngest (in canon they are all in their 30s)
In his early childhood they all really resented him for ruining their parents’ marriage. His mom tried to keep him away from that shit, but it got into his brain a bit. His method of dealing with it (like in canon) is just. Repression repression repression baby!! Can’t have problems if you just fight people about them. He inherits his moms perspective on hierarchy: no one can judge you if you’re the most powerful person in the room
Val was the one person on his fathers side that really tried to form a relationship with him which is why he looks up to her so much. Whether it’s because she actually cares about him or it’s because she thought he’d end up as a valuable resource, well. Arlo certainly believes the former
His now grown ass adult siblings regret being shitty to him. They try to reach out and reconnect now but Arlo is Arlo about it and just brushes them off
Arlo ends up the tallest and the most powerful of all his siblings
His mom ends up remarrying and starting her own family too. She gets happiness. She changes from that bad parent from the earlier parts of his childhood and tries to fix things. She’s been able to move on from the toxic mindset she raised him with, but he’s still stuck there with the trauma she’s given him.
Arlo’s kind of stranded between 2 happy families and he deals with it by!! Pretending the only life he has is the one at wellston. He throws himself into his duties as King and ignores everything else
#arlo unordinary#didn’t realize I had so many arlo mom headcanons#sorry that the tense changes so haphazardly#unordinary#Arlo’s mom is also Asian to me (NOTE THAT I AM ASIAN SHH)#he’s just very white passing and constantly gets shit for it from that side of his family#or it’s the horribleness of being praised for looking whiter than everyone else#uhhh what else#arlo is also even taller in my headcanons than he is in canon#idk how I feel about Arlo’s mom having other kids because arlo just radiates resentful younger child/only child energy#which is why despite his best(???) efforts his relationship with remi is so. mishandled#but yeah#on god I should just make an oc out of this material I’ve done so much legwork#astute jojo fans will note that I just josuked him#to which I say. shhhhh you saw nothing#it’s like josuke if Tomoko had a lot more focus put on her#jeta posting
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