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I finally figured out why I like your Sunny characterization so much. it’s cuz you’re able to write him being a little childish and liking some childish things without feeling like he’s being infantilized, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in this fandom lmao. realized this bc I was thinking about his mom’s baby talk shit and was like “oh that’s what fandom does too”

sunny characterization rant ahead, because it also annoys me that people infantilize him and i am going to tell you (you being all the people who read this post, not you specifically white-tulips) all how i characterize sunny as well as i can, and why he is not as childish as you probably think he is. if you don't care or you think you have the right idea about how to characterize him already, then, yeah. don't read ig. also warning, i like sunny a lot, and i might be romanticizing him or something? if you think he's not actually like this feel free to tell me as such-

sunny is sweet. this is, to me, is why people infantilize him so often i think, along with that line about him being the baby of the group, and possibly to try and help abstain him of the things he's done or for less morally okay reasons. he's sweet. he is a sweet boy. he is sweet, and attuned to the emotions of those around him. he is seen as the most supportive of their group in basil's photo album - basil constantly rants about his problems to sunny, but sunny 'never seems to mind,' and kel just naturally dumps that whole speech about his argument with hero to sunny. he's supportive. he's kind, even. he naturally represses his emotions and his caring instincts after mari's death, in an effort to remain neutral and thus keep himself from being hurt again, but he's still a kind, sensitive person. he's totally wrecked by mari's death, and his outward calmness is a front for what seems like a lot of fear and very active emotions. the scene we see in the underwater library in headspace where he dives into the lake from the statue shows this. presumably, he goes up there to dive off the statue because he thinks it'll impress kel/hero, or to fit in, or something like that. he cares deeply about what his friends think of him, and he's afraid of a lot even before mari's death. he's a caring person, and a nice person, and a supportive person. he's even a very emotional person, under his veneer of calm. very creative, deeply enjoys spending time with his friends, happy when those around him are happy. i love the scene of him driving back from the beach - another one that's shown in the underwater library scene in headspace. he loves animals, he really wants to impress mari and spend time playing violin with her. sunny is just a really good, kind, supportive, caring person. i would even say he's 'cute.' these aspects of his character are cute.

he's also a dork. a total dork. going to hobeez with kel after hours. letting his friends bury him in the sand. spending his time in the treehouse reading. staying in boxes like a cat. sunny is a dork, and sunny is a weirdo

sunny is a cute, weird dork

this does not mean he is childish

this does not mean he is immature

this does not mean it is okay to infantilize him

sunny isn't going to stop being a sweet, emotional person. sunny is not going to stop caring, and loving animals, and being a weird dork. these are parts of his personality. and, more importantly; none of these things are childish.

he does not need to grow out of these traits. they do not make him childish. they do not make him an uwu baby

an older sunny would not speak often. he's not a talkative person. he would listen to his friend's problems, and understand them, and empathize. because he's emotional, and because he's caring, and because he's sweet. and he wouldn't cry, because he's not quite as good at expressing his emotions anymore, but his chest would ache like he was going to

he doesn't let his friends bury him in the sand, and instead snarks them off, makes them laugh and apologizes when he takes it too far

he's just as weird, but he hides it more often. he's still a dork, but he plays video games instead of learning random fun facts about animals on the other side of the world nobody's ever heard of. he doesn't hide in boxes anymore, not just because he now knows that it's not normal for adults to do that, but because it doesn't appeal as much to him anymore. he doesn't have stuffed animals anymore, because hugging something fuzzy doesn't have the same appeal as it did when he was younger. but he does like wearing big, fluffy sweaters, and burying himself in his blankets during the winter. the dark and the warmth and a feeling like he's being hugged. it's nice.

but the point is, these aspects of his character are not childish. the opposite, in fact - they are mature. emotional intelligence, if only applicable to others and not as much to himself. confidence, if only as a result of a kind of... apathy, i suppose. a lack of care for the societal lines he toes. at least until people whose opinion he cares about start to see him as strange because of it, start to not like him because of it.

sunny fixates on odd things. he likes knives. he thinks they're pretty. he likes basil - he thinks basil is pretty, too, and very interesting to boot. he likes kel, kind of in the same way as his stuffed animals - keeping them near, because they make him fuzzy and safe and loved. only kind of, though, because kel is also his friend, and he loves his friends because they're his friends. how could he not. he loves the world. he cares, so much that he tries not to, because it hurts. everything is so ugly, and so beautiful, and sunny feels all the pain and all the love so much that he almost wants to just lay in bed and sob.

sunny is not a child.

sunny does not act like a child.

sunny just cares. cares so, so much, and is so good, and it honestly hurts my heart what a good person sunny is. sunny throws his violin down the stairs because he couldn't bring himself to admit he hates violin lessons, couldn't bring himself to scream at mari for how hard she was pushing him, until the bottle of emotions in his stomach finally burst and he pitched the stupid fucking thing down the staircase, and then makes the biggest mistake of his life when he reacts instinctively. when he tries to run, and mari gets in the way, and he's so mad and so hurt and all the emotions feel like daggers in his chest and he just pushes her away, he doesn't want to talk right now, leave me alone, please, please, please-

sunny is such a good person.

sunny also has a fascination with the macabre. not with horror - this is an important distinction. sunny doesn't like horror. sunny doesn't like being afraid.

sunny likes scooby-doo, though. sunny likes halloween. sunny likes knives. sunny finds the process of corpse decay fascinating, right up until he actually imagines it and feels a lot like throwing up.

people think that caring about others' emotions is a childish trait.

people think that seeing the world as beautiful is a childish trait.

people think that daydreaming is childish. that liking being comforted, and loved, and hiding in dark, warm spaces is childish.

people think being a weirdo is childish.

people think being a dork is childish.

sunny likes these things. sunny is all of these things.

this does not make him childish.

in the games, sunny is changed by mari's death. changed by his time in headspace. he represses his emotions - and the person that comes out isn't really the same sunny. the same sunny that daydreamed in class, and loved watching saturday morning cartoons with his friends, and would do anything for those he loved, and was so excited to play with mari.

this is a different sunny. this sunny brings a knife outside, and cuts aubrey with it when they get in a fight. this sunny panics, and tells himself not to care, and tries to ignore the ache in his chest when he looks at kel, and aubrey, and basil - christ, basil.

this sunny looks at aubrey's nail bat and describes it as 'more dangerous than a knife.' because he's a little shit. because he's sassy, and a bit snippy, and a bit sarcastic, and all his intelligence and creativity and brightness has sharpened into something... different. something snarky, and flat, and sardonic, because suddenly all the beauty he'd seen in the world isn't quite so bright, and all that darkness seems to spend a lot more time sitting in the pit of his stomach

sunny cares so much.

and, one day, he realizes that the world doesn't really care as much about him as he does about it.

one day, he realizes that the people he didn't care about are hurting everything he does care about.

one day, he manages to convince himself that the world isn't really that beautiful after all. because all the ugliness hurts, and he tells himself that seeing the beauty in it all is childish, and that being optimistic is unrealistic and a little stupid.

one day, sunny "grows up" - and it doesn't really feel all that good to be an adult.

one day, mari dies. and the sun doesn't shine quite as brightly as it did while she was here.

sunny did not "grow up."

sunny was hurt.

because these things were not childish.

because sunny was not immature.

because sunny is not an infant. he is not an uwu baby, and he never was one.

he's a dork. he's a weirdo. he's sweet, and caring, and so hurt.

and i think he deserves a hug.

not to be treated like a child, when he's probably the most mature of all the main characters, even when he's younger.

because these things are not childish.

they're just good. and they're just distinctly sunny.