#disclaimer that yes i know all the ccs signed off on the depictions of their characters

[corvidares]

my (nearly) complete thoughts on hitting on 16, typed organically in my friend’s dms

i think on hitting on 16 was a fantastic glimpse into c!wilbur's brain, and it made all the clearer a lot of musings and theories we've concluded about him before then he is ill. he has not recovered, or truly changed since the days of lmanberg's initial destruction. him insisting that he has is more a prayer, a lie hes telling himself, than anything tommy knows this. tommy knows it, but in a way hes lying to himself too. he wants his fucking brother back! and he loves him, deeply, even if he knows hes full of shit. i think that little scene when tommy brings wilbur water is so, SO telling. wilbur's pride doesnt let him openly care or be vulnerable, but tommy knows this. and while hes not necessarily fine with it.. he understands it.

wilbur loves having a passion, a drive. it helps him focus him away from his sick thoughts and from the memories of limbo. hes like an adrenaline junky to the extreme. his newest drive is, of course, besting quackity under the thin veil of hating las nevadas and the burger van.

unfortunately, wilburs love for tnt has persisted, so hes willing to do frankly absurd shit to get under quackity's skin. and its funny, his chosen method, because its SO reminiscent of early server days. theres so many details that point to the fact that wilbur doesnt realize how much has changed, how much he hasnt changed. want to get at quackity? steal his pet. the pet wars are still fresh enough in his memories.

of course, while wilbur was (is) a genius, hes also too unstable - and, i'd argue, manic - to really think things through enough to make them work as intended. which... you know. is part of why things go to shit

ccwilbur does well with his writing of quackity imo. wouldnt really change anything, which is good since this arc revolved around q so much

i dont think he did quite as well with ranboo. wilbur doesnt know how to write cranboo's dialogue. which is a relatively minor flaw. what he says to tubbo as theyre stealing the horse sits wrong with me though, and its more than how its said. i think the slight tension between bee duo as a result of wilbur and q's bullshit is evident enough, but not to this point. in fact, ranboo helping to steal the horse at all feels a little.. off. like, everyone insists ranboo has a weak spine, but this is ridiculous. he cares about animals, and he certainly does not trust or blindly follow wilbur. both of those things seemed to be the case in this story, which is kind of disappointing. you could write that off as it being cwilbur's pov and thus him THINKING ranboo follows him, but.. idk. his actions betray that

and finally, ctubbo. his characterization still pisses me off. this is the same kind of thing where you could wave it off as being how cwilbur sees him, but frankly i just dont think its justified. tubbo in this feels like a weird fanon version of himself, a distorted image. kind of hitting the mark, but not really. tubbo is barely any more recovered or moved on than wilbur. hes TRYING to find himself a new purpose with tubburger, but its a bit of a weak attempt, and he wouldve realized in time that it wasnt for him. especially considering q and wilbur's bullshit. i frankly feel he would have put a bit more of a fight, or at least annoyance/anger, when he saw wilbur and ranboo taking boner away. this is.. i mean okay, its up to interpretation. but tubbo has shown on the lmanberg anniversary that he stands up to wilbur now, in his own quiet way. that he knows wilbur trails victims behind him. i think thats the heart of bee duo's issues, actually. which not a lot of people seem to realize. ranboo doesnt trust wilbur either, and is keeping an eye on him. whereas tubbo tried to tell him theres no point. that wilbur will do what he does and hurt others in the process - and inevitably ranboo will be in the blast radius this time. which comes to fruition quite literally.

so.. while i disagree with the execution of certain scenes/events/character depictions, i think OVERALL that ccwilbur's amazing storytelling shines through. this was the perfect end to the burgervan arc, as heart breaking as it is. ranboo gets hurt, as was coming. tubbo tries to stop it despite knowing better, out of the goodness of his heart. bee duo try to protect each other, failing bc of the wedge forced between them. q and wilbur's rivalry escalates to petty and dangerous levels, to the point they even fight over who SAVES their victims. its so, so good.