#she's pretty destructive whenever she's isolated and unhappy

[neonmetro]

OMG AISHIRE MY BABY ???? 😭😭😭😭 I feel so bad for him ngl. . .LIKE I WILL PROTECT YOU OMG 😭😭😭😭 does she ever get the time to like, ever let out his emotions ??? I know suppressing them for a REALLY long time can lead to some very interesting actions ( like when She's overworked ). And because of everything that's happened and his extreme paranoia, has he hallucinated or hallucinates often ??? And building robots literally being his coping mechanism ??? GDHDJDJFUJF😭💞😭💞💞😭💞💞💞💞💞💞💞 I WILL LITERALLY PROTECT YOU AT ALL COSTS AISHIRE ( silly )

I can also see why she's my favorite corphead now...🙏🏽 she's such an interesting character, and the things that drive her to do the things that she does are so interesting. Someone get my baby a hug and some therapy STAT 😭😭😭😭😭😭

-paris anon

!!! I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE HIM SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!!!!!!!

aishire has got so many issues and they only have gotten worse with time, she doesn't really even let them out healthily, its usually only through destroying her own robots in a fit of rage if they aren't turning out like she wants them to turn out or chewing his thumb or scratching head until he bleeds

HE DEFINITELY HAS MET THE HORRORS FROM SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND INSOMNIA AND HE JUST KINDA SITS THERE TRYING REAAAAL HARD TO IGNORE THEM before trying to throw shit at them to get them to leave them alone (its usually a hallucination of bezaliel)

with the death of bezaliel came with the death of a lot of good things in her life I think. she just killed one of the largest pieces of her life and now she only has one of her closest friends

SHE NEEDS SEVERE THERAPY AND HER THERAPIST WILL NEED A THERAPIST AFTER EVERY SESSION

[glorytoukraine2022]

Hey everyone! I’m back with another analysis! This time I’m going to do a comparison of reformed villains from Elena of Avalor and Tangled the Series. The main reformed villains I will be comparing is Cassandra, to four reformed villains from the two aforementioned shows. If you’re a fan of both shows, you probably might know who they are.

First up, will be Cassandra vs Varian. I know this is an obvious choice I’m starting off with, but given that these two are from the same show, they’re the easiest to analyze. TTS does everything it can to push comparisons between Varian and Cassandra and make them seem like parallels. However, these two couldn’t be more different.

Varian didn’t want to turn to crime. He only became a criminal because he was pushed to it. When Varian lost his dad, he asked for help not only from Rapunzel, but the entire kingdom as a whole. But because of a false rumor going around the kingdom claiming that Varian had attacked Rapunzel. Rapunzel never cleared the rumor, nor did she follow up on Varian’s request for help. The King sent guards to chase Varian out of his home in order to cover up the destruction of the rocks, isolating Varian from society and any possible aid. Varian was still wron, but he literally had no other options left.

Cassandra, however? She was faced with no such situation. Her life was pretty stable when she stole the moonstone. Was it perfect? No, but if she was so unhappy, than she could have left anytime. She was even offered an opportunity to become a warrior of the kingdom of Ingvarr, but chose to stay because of her friendship with Rapunzel.

Like Varian, Cassandra too was mistreated by Rapunzel. I don’t blame either of them for wanting to leave her. Yet the show didn’t use any of these valid reasons as her motive for Cassandra stealing the moonstone. Instead, they decided to have Cassandra victim-blame Rapunzel for her own kidnaping.

The entirety of season 3, we see Cassandra gaslighting an abuse victim. Gothel didn’t kidnap Rapunze because she loved her more than Cassandra. She only cared about her magic hair.

Varian realized his actions were wrong long before the events of season 3, but nobody in Corona gave him a chance, leading to him turning to a Terrorist Leader. But when the Saporians revealed that they were going to destroy Completely using Varian’s chemicals, Varian turned against the Saporians to save Corona and it’s citizens, despite how the kingdom mistreated him, because it was the right thing to do. Cassandr, on the other hand, was about to rip the Sundrop straight from Rapunzel, despite her clearly being in pain.

For my next comparison, it will be Cassandra vs. Victor and Carla Delgado. One could argue that Cassandra saw the power of the moonstone as a power conduit and a means of respect, similarly to how Victor and Carla saw being Malvagos. However, given that TTS does seem to give a clear or specific reason for Cassandra’s theft of the stone, it’s honestly hard to say if power, respect or anything, for that matter, is Cassandra’s motive. “Destiny“, is also given as a motivation, but it’s hard to tell. Whereas Victor and Carla’s motivations for becoming Malvagos is clearly stated that they saw it as a means to gain power, in order to gain respect, which, quite frankly, makes more sense than anything that came out of Cassandra’s mouth throughout her entire villain arc.

Yes, Cassandra and Carla were both abandoned by their naristsstic, power-hungry mothers, but the way each of them reacted to it couldn’t have been more different. When Ash betrayed Victor and Carla by turning Victor to stone, Carla was devastated, and who wouldn’t be? Yet in that moment she saw her mother for who she truly was and turned against her, standing by her father when he needed her.

Now Cassandra? Let’s see, she went on a rampage to hurt her friends and others innocent people and ATTACKED her father. See the difference? One could argue that Cassandra was four when Gothel abandoned her whereas Carla was 19, but Cassandr’s memory of Gothel’s abandonment was repressed until Zhan Tiri showed it to her in The House of Yesterday’s Tomorow. Even though it happened when Cassandra was at a young age, when she remembered it, she was a 24 year old woma, and should have handled it with the maturity of a young adult.

Nobody is saying that Cassandra isn’t allowed to feel hurt. Nobody is saying she isn’t allowed to react badly. That she isn’t allowed to confront her father on the truth if she feels that he kept it from her. But you’d think she’d react in a mature manner. That she’d be willing to hear her father out and talk to him about it rather than straight out attack him!

Carla clearly wanted her mother in her life. She wanted a relationship with her. Cassandra also clearly wanted to be raised by her birth mother, but their mothers made their own choices. Ash and Gothel chose to abandon their daughters for selfish purposes. They can’t change who their mothers are, as much as they might want to. The difference is, only Carla has the maturity to realize that. She also realizes that she has her father, who loves and cares about her more than anything in the whole wide world. Cassandra disregards all of this.

From what we know about Victor and Carla’s childhoods’ Victor had fun days at the palace racing Esteban down the halls, playing hide and seek and cooking with him and Elena. Carla had fun cooking with her father as a child. But some of their lines from “Don’t Look Now”, tell us that their childhoods weren’t exactly peachy. According to Victor, if you had seen him as a child, he would have “always had a frown” because he was put down by others and was “treated like a clown” whenever he tried to stand up. And let’s not forget that him and his family were banished by Shuriki while Victor was still in his teens.

According to Carla, she and Victor were “always on the move“ and that the only thing that never changed was that she would “always feel alone.” The reasons she and Victor could never settle down was probably because they survived as theives and con-artists. If they were alwlays on the move, than Carla probably nevertheless had the chance to make friends growing up. And we’re suppoesd to feel sorry for CASSANDRA?!

While it’s possible she might have felt looked down upon like Victor, Cassandra had a pretty stable life growing up. Growing up inside a CASTLE! She was even allowed to train for the Royal Guard at age six! Victor and Carla had to resort to becoming con artists for a living, and Cassandra is pouting just because she didn’t get the job she wanted?!

When Carla nearly fell to her death after she was knocked over a ledge, Victor was terrified that he was going to lose Carla right then and there, causing him to realize that power wasn’t worth the price of losing his daughter. This gave him the incentive and courage to stand up to Ash for Carla’s safety, and end dark pursuits right then and there. Ash responded to this by turning him into stone. Heartbroken and angered by Ash’s betrayal, and realizing her mother’s true nature, Carla stands against Ash and reforms as well.

Victor and Carla may have once believed that power would gain them the respect they’ve always wanted, but in the end, realized that they never needed power. All they ever truly needed to be happy was love and family. Each other. That’s what I call a true, remarkable redemption. Cassandra didn’t seem to learn or realize anything based on her experience. To this day, I still don’t understand just what new insights and changes resulted from Cassandra’s “redemption.” All Zhan Tiri did was take the moonstone from her. There should have been more than that to her redemption.

Now, last, but not least, Cassandra vs Esteban. Now, I saved this one for last, because Esteban is the one I’ve heard people compare Cassandra to, and while I understand where they are coming from, I still have my objections. I’ve heard people compare Esteban to Cassandra based on the fact that they both had a desire to be noticed. While I understand this comparison, I still feel like Esteban is the more sympathetic of the two.

As much as Esteban wanted to be listened to, he always loved his family deeply. But he always made the mistake of trusting the wrong people, first Shuriki, then Ash, and then the Four Shades. He trusted them, only for them to go after the people he loved and wanted to listen to him in the first place. Cassandra wanted to be listen to, but she didn’t care if it cost her everyone that had ever cared about her. We see this early on in season 1, during “Challenge of the Brave”, when she tries to sabotage Rapunzel’s chances in “Challenge of the Brave” by stealing her weapon of choice, and in “Great Expotations“, when she breaks her promise to Varian that she would be his assistant at the Science Expo if he completed her Handmaiden duties for her, just so she could be on guard duty.

Both Cassandra and Esteban are ambitius and have sought to undermine their family/friends if given the oppourtunity, but I felt that Esteban was always more misunderstood whereas Cassandra was just willing to screw over anybody in her way. Think about it, even after Esteban joined up with Ash, he NEVER EVER wanted to hurt his family, and was always going out of his way to protect them and migiate harm. Cassandra, on the other hand? Went on a killing spree to murder her friends and cause as much destruction as possible.

I have also heard people comparing their redemptions and complaining about how they were both “last minute.” While I would agree in regards to Cassandra, I would NOT say the same about Esteban. As I pointed out in previous paragraph, Cassandra was still hell bent on hurting Rapunzel before Zhan Tiri grabbed the moonstone. Just before that scene, Esteban had just sung a duet with Elsa about how remorseful he feels for everything he’s done and all the people he’s hurt.

Iv’e also heard people comparing their “deaths”, claiming that Cassandra dying was a self sacrifice. NO. I REPEAT. Cassandra’s death in the TTS finale was NOT a self sacrifice! A self sacrifice is when you knowingly put yourself in harm’s way for someone or something else, knowing that you’ll be killed, or seriously injured in the process. Esteban teleporting in front of Elena to take Cahu’s time grain, was a self sacrific. Anna choosing to save Elsa from Hans in Frozen was a self sacrifice. Cassandr’s death was NOT self sacrifice. Cassandra and Rapunzel didn’t believe they were going to die or suffer any consequences by uniting the stones. The only person who they bellived would die was the person who United the stones, that person being Zhan Tiri. Cassandra’s actions were not self sacrificial, in any way, shape or form. What Esteban did for Elena in that moment was more powerful than anything Cassandra did in the finale.

All of these people I talked about above were better villains than Cassandr, with much better motivations, and are More worthy of redemption as have becom better people than she ever will be. If Cassandra ever grows in the futur, sh’ll be lucky if she ever gets at least half to where all these wonderful people are today.

I’m sorry if this analysis isn’t as good as my others so far. I stayed up until 3:40 AM writing this, so I apologize for any sloppiness or spelling mistakes you might see. I still hope you enjoyed my thoughts!

[coelasquid]

Honestly gettin’ pretty sick of people coming to me to trash Joseph whenever I say he’s a complicated character with a lot of nuance, so hey, here’s my take on the whole Mary-Robert-Joseph situation.

I’ll put this all under a cut so here are some disclaimers; This is full of spoilers, I’m writing this under the assumption that all the cult end stuff is non-canon, and yes, this is only one possible interpretation of the information we can glean from the character interactions (also, taken from what may later prove to be incomplete information as more endings are unlocked/glitches are fixed/content is released). I like it because I think it’s the most interesting and empathetic for all of the characters involved and because I don’t think it’s the kind of situation that necessarily has to have a “villain”.

I think right now the discussion about this relationship is too focused on making one character “the bad guy” and the other “the good guy” in a binary black-and-white pass-fail one-character-is-at-fault-one-character-is-pure-and blameless dichotomy that can’t ever really apply to real relationships, and I think that focusing on making it about which character has had sex with someone outside of marriage and which has not without looking at any other extenuating factors oversimplifies the issue even moreso.

What we know for fact is that Joseph has cheated on Mary, at least once, specifically by sleeping with Robert. We know for fact that Mary frequently goes out to get excessively drunk and hits on men, to the point of needing to be escorted home by the bar staff, but does not sleep with the men she tries to pick up. We don’t know whether Mary’s statement “you aren’t his usual type” is supposed to mean that Joseph has cheated on her multiple times or whether she’s so bitter about the one time it did happen she continues to needle him about it and bring it up. So “you aren’t his usual type” could just mean “you aren’t as hot as Robert and that makes it harder for me to accept this”.

We can assume that while Mary is out at the bar on a regular basis, leading an active social life, Joseph is the one at home with their four children. It was confirmed by the writer that the eldest is supposed to read as autistic, the twins are shown to be a conspiratory handful who aren’t easy to deal with unless separated, and the youngest is a toddler. This is, in all likelihood, a very demanding group of children to care for, even moreso if you’re trying to do it alone.

Joseph’s first two dates are not particularly “romantic” in nature, and really focus more on doing pretty mundane things that parents-who-are-friends might help each other out with. Baking brownies and wrangling kids for a church bake sale and chaperoning a youth centre dance until you’re relieved and go off to get margaritas. These are not activities a partner should feel threatened by in a healthy relationship. Speaking as a married person myself, these are not things I would feel threatened by if my own husband were doing with a friend. Mary is threatened by them, however. It’s a chicken-and-egg problem trying to divine “is Mary jealous because Joseph has cheated in the past” or “does Joseph cheat because Mary gets jealous when he has friends”, but either way the fact of the matter is that at the point we meet them Joseph can’t have friends without triggering Mary’s jealousy.

So in that sense, Joseph is an extremely isolated person. He’s supposed to be the one people in the community can come to for support, but he himself doesn’t really have a support network of his own while he tries to give his kids happy childhoods and actively ignore the very public knowledge that his wife is out partying and hitting on other men all the time. It’s fairly understandable that he would be so starved for support and affection that he would throw himself into the arms of the first person to reach out to help him with basic domestic tasks. Which is not to say it’s a morally upstanding thing to do, but it’s as understandable as Mary’s jealousy and resentment.

There’s this sort of relationship binge-and-purge problem I’ve been told a number of people who cheat on their partners tend to get stuck in, where an individual feels so trapped in their relationship that they cheat, but then they feel so guilty about cheating that they return to their partner and try to be excessively accommodating and devoted to make up for what they did. Again, this is speculation based on the incomplete information we have, but it would be a pretty realistic situation if Joseph was so desperately unhappy in his relationship he threw himself into the arms of another person who showed him affection and then felt so guilty about it after the fact that he came crawling back to Mary and refused to confront her about any of the issues that drove him away initially. As in, he put the blame for the situation entirely on himself and tried to come back and be the most upstanding, accommodating, understanding, devoted partner to make up for his wrongdoing. 

Of course, that doesn’t solve the issue. It just makes it fester. No one confronts Mary about her self-destructive habits so she becomes more distant and resentful towards him, meanwhile he has more pressure and isolation piled on him until he inevitably acts out again. The problem isn’t “who is the bad guy” it’s “these two people are going to poison each others lives as long as they refuse to either sort this out and both accept their share of the blame or cut it off completely and move on to other relationships.

AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT why not discuss Robert too.

We only really have an account of what went down between Robert and Joseph from Joseph’s side of the story, but if we’re operating under the assumption that Joseph isn’t just outright lying to you, it seems to be the point of contention is Joseph thought it was a one night stand because Robert didn’t give him reason to believe otherwise, and then Robert got resentful that Joseph didn’t clue into his expectation that it was more. Which is, honestly, a pretty relatable problem I’ve seen happen between friends in real life.

We know from playing through Robert’s route that he IS the kind of person who gets kind of distant and aloof and expects the other person to play along with what he wants when he makes up his mind about what that is, so this scenario doesn’t seem out of character for him. We also know he is not above coping with his problems by throwing himself into the arms of someone he respects as a “good person”, expecting they’ll “fix” him. This paints a picture that Robert saw Joseph as exactly the kind of stable upstanding person he thought was going to make him feel good about himself and Joseph saw Robert as a release from his unhappy relationship. The two were both vulnerable people expecting the other to fix their problems and both came out the other side feeling worse about it.

So again, yeah, I completely acknowledge there’s room for other interpretations of the situation, but this is what I mean when I say “Joseph is a cheating scumbag” and “Joseph is an actual demon” are both disappointing ways to explain his actions, because the situation has the potential to be very complicated and nuanced for all three of them without any of them having to be “the bad guy”.