Red Balloon

(She/They) Uhhhhhh....Hello. I’m joining the family late but...HERE’S THE MEMES AND CONTENT!

[11kouragekrystal]

As a victim of bullying, I do not like Chloe.

That's it.

Would I accept a redeemed Chloe? Yes.

Do I like Chloe being brought back every full moon to remind us her upbringing made her a walking pile of human garbage?

Absolutely the fuck not.

I don't like Chloe because of my mistreatment from classmates, therefore, I dislike seeing her when she's being horrible.

People who hate Chloe don't wanna see her. People who love Chloe don't wanna see her like this.

So what was QOTD for? Who was the audience?

You'd think if Thomas hated Chloe soooo much, he'd stop talking about her. He's the type of guy to bring up their horrible ex, even when they're dead and gone.

As a victim of bullying, I almost feel bad for Chloe.

[red-balloon12]

And that’s okay. You’re not obligated to like Chloe. No one is. But no one should feel like they’re being gaslight for thinking Chloe is more than JUST A bully. Because she’s not. We KNOW her past. We know why she’s like this. The problem is that Astruc, whether he actually hates Chloe or not, brought back a character that served no purpose for NO purpose than to be another akumatized victim. Maybe that will change in the future. Hopefully it does. But in my eyes, there was no good reason to bring her back. There’s no justification for her return other than to be another minor annoying antagonist like she’s been since season 4.

And the thing that gets me about this, and I’ll complain about this until the cows come home, NOT ONE single adult in Chloe’s life has taken responsibility for her. Andre is living life as normal with his NEW DAUGHTER he just took custody of. Audrey is still taking advantage of her. Idk what the fuck is going on with Bustier or any other teacher/principal. The show is acting like they are victims to Chloe when they really aren’t (minus Audrey) . The REAL victims are the other kids Chloe bullied like Marinette and Alya and even Sabrina. But the adults?! Fuck them. Especially Chloe’s parents. They had all of the power and they LET her pull off half of the stunts she did.

[red-balloon12]

So….let’s talk about Janus (A Redo…it’s somehow longer than the first one)

If you’re a Sanders Sides fan and you think you saw this post before, you did! I accidentally deleted the first version like an idiot.

But this does give me the chance to re-word some of my points I made about the latest Sanders Sides episode and how it handled Janus.

So, as I said in the previous version, I’m glad that the topic of Janus’s impersonation problem was addressed. I’m glad it was Patron that questioned him on it, though it’s interesting that no one commented on him impersonating Logan as well. Yet again, a sign of neglecting Logan.

I’m glad Janus was able to talk about it without the sides overlapping him (specifically Roman and Virgil for obvious reasons). If this were pre-anniversary or “Putting Others First” I fear that things wouldn’t have been as civil as it was in this episode. Goes to show how each side + Thomas has improved.

And the fact that Janus apologized to Patton is something to note as well. Janus’s main fiction is to be selfish for Thomas’s sake. So him apologizing is a big step for him. An even BIGGER step is for him to apologize Roman…something I know will take a while to work up to.

And then there’s Janus being the only one to notice Logan’s little “orange eye” moment. It does two things. It reminds the audience of how observant Janus is, and it build up soothing between the two. And no, this isn’t me just being a Loceit shipper. Their relationship has always fascinated me because I get the impression that Janus has a certain level of respect or even fear for/of Logan.

It was exceptionally hard for him to impersonate Logan. With Patton it came easier and it worked better since he’s built on emotion. But Logan (for the most part) is built on the facts. It’s harder to manipulate a side like Logan. And Logan has expressed multiple times that he would be a great foil to Janus. Janus knows that. That’s why he’s so quick to put him out of the picture.

But NOW. Janus has seen a crack in the mask. He’s seen Logan with his orange eyes and based on facial expression, it’s hard to say if Janus expected it. It looks like he was confused as to why that was happening. If this is true, it kinda puts a dent in the whole “Janus sent Remus to fuck with Logan and make him snap theory”. (Tbh, I never liked that theory to begin with. It kinda took away agency from Remus being his own force of nature)

So now the question is…what does Janus do with this information? Will he use it to better manipulate Logan? Will he confront it to him? Will he register it as a threat to Thomas? Will he even use it to better understand Logan? Only time will tell.

But let’s go back to Remus because I neglected to talk about him at all in my deleted version of this analysis. Janus’s reaction to Remus’s rant about doing the nasty with Nico and failed to silence him was so interesting to me. Because it further strengths the idea that Janus cannot actually control Remus. Remus is an unfiltered force of chaos. Janus’s whole thing is about filtering. By that angle, they are opposites. But they’re also arguably the closest to one another than each of them are to the others. (The second closest to Janus would be Patton of course).

But I wonder how they both feel about one another. Because we don’t actually know. The show has made a point to not go into that (or maybe irl Thomas forgot lol) but it’s interesting how logically, Remus and Janus should HATE each other due to their respective jobs. But maybe because of the ““light sides’s”” exclusion of the ““dark sides””. Or maybe that was the product of Janus’s excluding the ““dark sides”” on his own.

Something that adds to the former being true is the “core four” comment made by Janus at the end of the video. He said it sarcastically. Which COULD just be Janus being Janus. But through out the episodes, it seems like he really wants to be included in stuff. He wouldn’t have shared his name if he didn’t. And there being a “core four” is a barrier. And he’s jealous.

Because it means that there are certain sides that are more worthy of being heard than others. But really, the only difference between Janus, Remus and the other sides (besides the actual harm they caused) is the time spent episode wise. Really, the sides that should be considered the main sides are Roman Patton and Logan. But they made “room” for Virgil when he got “accepted” into the group. So does that mean once the others or maybe just Thomas accepts Janus and Remus, they’ll become the core 6? What determines acceptance? How much Thomas likes a side?

This leads to my final thought. I still don’t like using the terms “light sides” and “dark sides” and I kinda hate that it’s been adopted into the fandom and the canon completely. It’s the same with the “core four” thing. Because it creates an unnecessary hierarchy between the sides. They’re all just supposed to be sides of a person. And I hope eventually things lead to those terms being abolished. And a part of me hope it’s Janus that calls this out.

[darkstarofchaos]

"You could remove Vaggi from S2 and the plot wouldn't change at all."

Some of y'all really need to learn to say, "I don't like this character" or, "I don't find them interesting." Vaggi is a load-bearing character in S2, and cannot be removed without bringing the entire plot down.

Here is a legitimate example of "Vaggi could be removed and the plot wouldn't change": Baxter is a key player in the hotel crew's plan, and he decides to help them because his sheets were folded to his liking. You could very easily replace that with his newfound friendship with Niffty and continue with the plot as usual.

Here is an example of removing her that wouldn't technically change the plot, but would absolutely weaken it: Lucifer tries to crash Vox's rally because Vaggi asked him to do something. This leads to Charlie getting mad at both of them and Lucifer leaving the hotel, which then leaves him in a position where he can be captured later. And you could achieve that same plot beat with something like Charlie venting to him and him going after Vox on his own, only to find out it didn't help after all. Except we would lose the exposition about his inability to harm sinners. Which is kind of incredibly plot-relevant.

Also, Charlie's personal arc this season was about getting so caught up in her own head that she was pushing her friends away, both by accident and on purpose. Removing one of the people closest to her, and one of the only ones she pushes away on purpose, weakens her arc.

And now, an example of removing Vaggi that would bring the entire plot down: she's running the hotel. She is the one keeping things going while Charlie is having assorted personal crises, and there is no other character who could fill that role. Husk is already doing extra work by taking over the therapy sessions, so he can't run things. Niffty isn't suited to that kind of work. Lucifer is depressed and withdrawn and doesn't like sinners anyway. Alastor is the only one I could see being capable of taking over, but the plot needs him somewhere else, and he's exhausted and in constant pain throughout this season. To the point where, by the time he tries to quit the hotel, he can't even hide how much it's affecting him. He couldn't take over if he wanted to.

Vaggi is the literal only reason Charlie's dreams do not, in fact, die. No other character with the skills to take over has the energy or the emotional bandwidth to deal with running a business on top of their personal issues. Without her, the hotel would have died, Charlie probably would have given up, and the plot would have changed dramatically.

One of the most important characters in S2 and you want to remove her because adulting is boring. Yeah, okay.

[darkstarofchaos]

I was not addressing the criticism that Vaggi is a boring character. I was addressing the first criticism I ever saw about her after getting into this fandom. The enjoyability of a character is subjective, and if you don't find them interesting, you're entitled to your opinion.

That being said.

The one and only thing she gets for herself is trying to change her name? Really? So this is somehow about Charlie, I suppose?

Fascinating, considering they hadn't even met yet.

Vaggi has an entire Charlie-free backstory that informs who she is in the present day. Her aggressive, sometimes militaristic mannerisms come from her time as an Exorcist. Her kindness and protective nature are quite explicitly part of who she is, not something Charlie cultivated in her. And she has blatant trauma which is completely unrelated to Charlie. Trauma that will doubtless be explored further as Lute comes into her own as a major villain with a major vendetta against Vaggi.

A vendetta which, by the way, is not rooted in Vaggi being close to Charlie. Lute specifically targets Vaggi as a traitor during the S1 finale, before Adam's death. And then Vaggi gets the upper hand and refuses to kill her. An amazing character moment, because showing mercy was what caused Vaggi's fall in the first place, and she actively weaponizes it against Lute. She doesn't let her live because "that's what Charlie would want", she does it because, in Lute's eyes, it's the worst thing she could possibly do.

As for the changing her name thing? First, I never got the impression that she actually wanted to change it. She says it feels like she has to give herself a name (not "I feel like", "It feels like"), and all her ideas keep the "Vag" part until Husk comments on it. And sure, you can argue that it's just bad writing, since we don't get an explanation for why she ultimately just changes the spelling. But to me, the whole thing feels like an expression of the above-mentioned trauma; her problem is the association with Adam, not the name itself. And she's already changed the pronunciation, so why not just change the spelling too, and truly make it her own?

Second, changing her name is part of Vaggi's character arc, and it's not required for every piece of character development to impact the plot.

And yes! Vaggi has a character arc! She starts out quick to anger, slow to trust, and relatively closed off to everyone but Charlie. Then her secret comes out and she starts to open up. In S2, she's more relaxed, more friendly, and more even-tempered. She ties her hair back instead of wearing it down. She goes from "I'm supposed to never fail you" and "If I can't help you, then what's the point of me?" to confidently running the hotel so Charlie can focus on other things. And yeah, the focus on helping Charlie makes them kind of the same thing, but they aren't.

Vaggi is growing from someone who was meant to follow orders and serve a purpose into someone who can take charge and feel like she's doing the right thing. She is gaining self-esteem and figuring out who she wants to be now that she doesn't have to hide who she was. And deciding she wants to keep parts of who she was, like her name, are a valid part of that process. So is building relationships with other people, like Carmilla (someone Charlie has barely interacted with).

If you aren't interested in what Vaggi has going on, fine. If you wish she had goals outside of making Charlie's dreams come true, fine. But to say she has nothing outside of being Charlie's girlfriend? Objectively incorrect.

[red-balloon12]

You can even take it a step further and say that Charlie’s dream is no longer JUST Charlie’s dream. It’s Vaggi’s too now. She genuinely wants redemption for sinners. She may not like how heaven is ran. We know how conflicted she is and we’ll probably get into that in S3. But Vaggi has seen for herself that the hotel WORKS. And, even if she doesn’t fully recognize it, she’s a HUGE reason as to why it works. Even in the song “When I Think About the Future” she recognizes the hotel as her dream as well as Charlie’s. She’s just had yet to fully take ownership of said dream which would be a BIG step in her character.

[madamefeu]

I’m so sick of the ML writers trying to get us to feel bad for Marinette. ‘Boohoo, what if everyone finds out that I lied about Gabriel? No one can know the truth about Gabriel!’ Girl, no one made you lie about him. No one needed or wanted you to lie about him. The show wants us to think that Marinette lied to ‘protect’ Adrien when really what she did was make him feel bad about not wanting his abuser to be remembered as a hero. If Adrien finds out the truth and breaks up with Marinette, it will be completely deserved. Marinette has betrayed the trust of everyone she claims to ‘love’, and the show wants us to think that that’s a good thing. No.

[red-balloon12]

I somewhat get her lying about Gabriel not being Hawkmoth. But the lie should have ended there. She did NOT need to add in that he “died a hero”. Sis could have said HM took him down with him or he was an unfortunate victim of Hawkmoth permanently. She did NOT need to do the hero shit. And that’s what’s making me feel less sympathetic to Marinette.

[red-balloon12]

This is…SO FUCKING late but here’s the boiiiii!

[red-balloon12]

There’s something poetic about how this tour, something that was representing the death of something that’s been lurking in the background of the fandom for years, becoming the revival of Nate’s musical passion. I think that’s neat!

[red-balloon12]

I’ll probably come out with a proper review on the latest episode on TADC soon but I need to vent a little bit.

Y’all would DEADASS form a hate campaign against Caine when he’s just doing his job and then turn around and fall more in love with Jax after he literally caused a whole kingdom to go extinct?

I really do hate this fandom sometimes.

[red-balloon12]

This has aged both like milk and like wine-

[red-balloon12]

….what in the absolute fuck is happening on Twitter in terms of Vaggi and Adam and Lute?

[red-balloon12]

Bro Nate’s in his butch lesbian era. He’s been serving so much cvnt lately-

[littencloud9]

is that female character really that uninteresting and irrelevant and lacking personality or do you just choose not to read any of her scenes as deeply as you would with a male character

[red-balloon12]

Vaggi….Alphys…idk if Noelle from Deltarune has this problem but if so Noelle…Charlie etc, etc-

[treshchotka]

New hero on the block

Plz follow me on tiktok

Commissions / my accounts

[sunandmoonseisai]

I take your "f#nnybunny and wildehopps are the same ship in different fonts" and I raise you "wildehopps is what you pretend f#nnybunny is"

[red-balloon12]

Truer words have never been spoken in a bit.

[red-balloon12]

TODAY WAS JANUS’S BIRTHDAY SHI-

(Happy Birthday, snek boi)

[red-balloon12]

HEAVY SPOILERS FOR STONES THROW: CITIES BENEATH (EPISODE 7 of SEASON 3)

WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU M E A N KADAL’S DEAD FR THIS TIME!?

[red-balloon12]

Princxiety? Prinxiety? Idk the spelling but yk what ship I mean

Bingo carddd :D

I’m going to get put on fire for this but….I don’t like them. And it’s mainly because I’m not a fan of Virgil anymore. That and there’s just other ships that interest me more. I’m acutely aware that they do make each other better and I appreciate that but….yeah. Virgil’s a massive hypocrite and Roman’s black and white mentality is tiresome. And I can’t vibe with them together as someone who loves Janus and likes Remus. (All of this is funny because back in the day I used to be a big prinxiety shipper).

[red-balloon12]

SANDER SIDES COMMUNITY! GIVE ME YOUR SHIPS!!

[smilecult]

I’d like to see princxiety <:

[red-balloon12]

Hey! Canyou do my a favor and do this as an ask? It’s easier for me to show my bingo card that way.

[enixamyram]

Here's the thing. I really do get why people feel that the Charlie and Vaggi argument was resolved too quickly.

I just don't agree.

I feel like a lot of these thoughts are going based on past experiences with other TV shows where couple fights are drawn out for the sake of tension and drama. Some of them even when it's blatantly forced and unnecessary and sometimes even repetitive.

Charlie and Vaggi are a healthy established couple who have been together for years! I think it makes a lot more sense that their fights are short lived because they know each other so well by this point. They have their burst of anger during a fight, they sulk and stew in it for a bit, and then they talk about it. Most couple drama is usually due to some kind of miscommunication so it makes sense that once they communicate, they're able to resolve their issues.

(That and... They have much bigger problems to deal with! I cannot stress how much I hate shows that force dumb couple-drama in the middle of serious and intense situations. I don't give a damn what your partner did to upset you, there's a literal war on the horizon! Get over it and focus on what's important!)