some people either treat tadc as the most perfect show ever and if you criticize it or gooseworx youre evil and going to hell or as the most dogshit show ever and if you say anything positive about it youre gay and evil and going to hell
another teapot animal head variant, because this sculpt is comforting to revisit. i find the speculative biological implications of the tea cup babies disturbing, but have willed them into existence regardless.
Why there's no way Berdly's parents aren't (at least somewhat) neglectful (and why emergency contacts prove it)
(I'll start by saying that most of the main Deltarune parents are neglectful in some capacity, but their neglect is complicated, and this is Berdly specific anyways).
Almost every time the "Berdly is neglected by his parents" discussion comes back there's one or two people saying that they might actually not be neglectful at all; either because there's no "explicit" sign of it, as they are not shown interacting with him, or because the traits associated with neglect he presents can also be present in people with supportive families.
And while I do think the first argument is kind of silly because of how highly ironic it is, I would agree with the second argument... if he hadn't been actively neglected in front of the player's eyes in the Weird Route (yikes). So I'm going to list (and counterargument) all of the possibilities that could excuse Berdly's parents from the (at least somewhat) neglectful veredict:
Who's to say they didn't visit the hospital? They might not be there because they left before we entered.
-There's absolutely no sign whatsoever of Berdly's parents being in his hospital room at any given point. You could argue Toby didn't want to waste time on including sprites for them to appear, but that seems like a very flimsy excuse given how much he loves to include obscure stuff that most people might not even see; why wouldn't he put the time to include Berdly's parents in the room if he wanted to avoid any misunderstanding? Not only that, but he also didn't include any stuff in the room that might've been brought in by them, and the receptionist doesn't mention them coming earlier, either. Hell, the heating bottle over his head is room-temperature! So not even small context clues suggest their presence.
Berdly's parent(s) might be busy/on a work trip, maybe they couldn't get to the hospital in time even if they wanted.
-This is the moment when I introduce the golden phrase: they could've assigned him an emergency contact. It's still bad enough by itself if they are so busy that they can't get to the hospital on time for their son's first day of being comatose... But let's assume the best of intentions here, he's a grown teenager after all! He's still in high school though, and even adults get emergency contacts, so where's his?
Berdly's parent(s) might be ill/disabled/bedridden/etc., maybe that's why they couldn't get there.
-While I don't personally believe in this theory, I could admit it makes sense, but, again... they could've assigned him an emergency contact! Maybe they can't go to the hospital and be there with him physically, but that doesn't mean someone else they trust can't.
Berdly's parents might be dead/he's an orphan, maybe that's why no one visits him and why he doesn't talk about his parents.
-I'm gonna be a little more biased than normal on this one and say that this theory is lowkey non-sense and I can't even take it seriously. First of all, there's not a single gravestone that could be Berdly's parents'. Second of all, wouldn't that be implied somewhere, even by someone else than Berdly, at the very least? And third of all, why would Toby repeat the dead bird parent thing with Berdly when he has already done it with Snowy of all people??? Even if we ignore all of that and say he has their remains in his house or something, excusing them of any responsability about his issues because they are literally dead... he would be experiencing neglect by the other town folk instead! They could've assigned him an emergency contact, and yet, they didn't.
Maybe they aren't that strict and think he is with friends.
-I haven't seen anyone say this, but I'm covering all of the possibilities I can think of here, so whatever. Even if they are less strict, that doesn't mean it's okay for them to not realize their child hasn't come home at the time he always does, or to not call him to make sure he's okay. This is quite literally one of the main reasons why Susie's (also absent) parents read as neglectful too in chapter 2. They most likely would've been called by the hospital too.
Maybe they had an accident?? That prevented them from getting??? There????
-No one has said this ever and I don't think anyone believes thisā but, again, I'm trying to cover everything and this is the only thing I can think of that could remotely excuse their silence. It's not like the answer is that different from the others, tho. You guys get the deal š
Maybe they don't like to be around him because he's obnoxious and an asshole.
-stfu
My humble conclusion: there's not really a conclusion, becuz even now most things are kinda vague. Everything I'm saying here makes it sound like Berdly's parents are the worst parents alive, but knowing Toby's way of writing parents, I'm 95% sure they actually care about him for the most part, and are just misdirected. It's just kinda strange to see some people talk like the Weird Route in chapter 4 didn't basically confirm what others have been figuring out based on context clues already.
Were most of the "Berdly is neglected" suppositions in the chapter 2 era based on the Universal Mother Theory and (seemingly) arbitrary characteristics of his attitude? Absolutely, but now there's no doubt about some deegree of emotional neglect being involved, with chapter 4 giving us very obvious proof.
I'm making this post NOT because I think the coma situation is the only actual proof of him getting neglected at home, but because I don't think enough people take it as face-value as they should tbh. At the end of the day, I do believe he's intentionally written with emotional neglect in mind and that his character is directly influenced by it on purpose (especially regarding his attitude around adult figures). I'm not trying to police people's headcanons about Berdly's parents, I'm just pointing out what the canon is giving us and why it all points out to this certain conflict in Berdly's life. You can think whatever you want about his parents (or caretakers idk), but there should be no denial to their parenting skills not being idealā yes, even if they do appear later on and even if they are all lovely-dovey with him, because they were irresponsible enough to not assign an alternate number for emergencies like hospitalization even then. The time passed is also not an excuse when he basically went missing since the night before. You can say whatever you want about the parenting skills of Carol, Asgore and Toriel, but I'm a 100% sure they would at least show up the first day of their kid's coma, or assign someone else to do it in their place until they can arrive.
And no, this is not a denial of Berdly's responsability in his own behavior. He can be emotionally neglected AND be an asshole all by himself and his own merit. One doesn't erase the other.
i like when characters have weird inexplicable intimate bonds but i don't understand romantic or sexual attraction so it's just weird bullshit instead #myweirdbullshit #ilovemyweirdbullshit #secretthirdthing
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