the people (two of them) have asked, so you shall recieve. woe, sanfo thoughts upon ye. discussion of torturing ahead
Ok so
First, there's this: Sadism does NOT seem to be a common thing in Nevada. People value their enemies dead far more than them incapacitated or traumatized. Weapons are centered around killing as quickly as possible, there is no market for weapons that don't kill immediately so manufacturers do not sell them.
(personally, I suspect this is because of Hank, who is considered the biggest threat against Nevada at time of writing. Most people who are using weapons are doing so because they are trying to kill, or are working against, Hank. Hank has a legendary pain tolerance, so if a weapon can't kill hank, it may as well be as desirable to the population as a toothpick. This theory doesn't account for the lack of brutal weapons before Hank existed though.)
Wanting to cause pain, taking joy in inflicting misery, is not normal, even in Madness Combat. People want their enemies dead, first and foremost! Any pain that comes from the method of murder chosen is usually coincidental. A lot of terrible, unethical things happen in Nevada, but pain doesn't usually seem to be the goal. It's all either for education (experimenting on people to learn things about themselves), or eradicating threats. That's the culture here. Torture is a crime that lacks a demographic in Nevada, so one can reasonably conclude torture isn't something the people are adapted to either.
One of the most interesting things about Sanford, to me, is that it is only him specifically who has done torture and arson. And... you know... his coworkers are Hank (an honest-to-god mass murderer) and Deimos (a man with a lighter for a thumb that leaves ashes everywhere).
You'd think that HANK would be a torturer, that DEIMOS would be an arsonist (accidentally or not), but no, no! Hank and Deimos's posters don't mention any of that! It's all Sanford! When Doc needs a supply line to the AAHW destroyed, he probably calls Sanford. When Doc needs information wrung out of a priority off-the-grid target, he calls Sanford. When Doc wants people to regret trying to sabotage SQ, he calls Sanford.
According to the poster, he specializes in sabotaging supplies, destroying morale- he specializes in making his enemies' lives hell. And it's something he's apparently well-known for, too, enough for it to be on his wanted poster. It's not a secret, which means people have gone through whatever he does to them and lived - likely on purpose.
But does he want to do this?
I'd say he does.
He doesn't NEED to bring a meathook to fight with. There's PLENTY of weapons laying around that are far more effective than some random barbed hook that hurts more than it kills. It isn't like Sanford is lacking in choices here. He uses brutal methods because he prefers doing it. At best, he's neutral and only uses this brutality because of its effectiveness as a scare tactic. At worst, he actively enjoys it, and the resulting fear of him and SQ is a happy accident.
If you lived in the world of Madness Combat, seeing Sanford would strike terror into the heart of any person with a will to live. When Sanford catches you, he rips you apart, destroys your home, and he might not even do the mercy of killing you when he's done, so all your buddies can get a full view of the world of hurt that awaits them. He's SQ's fearmonger. If dying doesn't scare you away, maybe living in torment will.
There's very few characters in Madness Combat who can match this level of sadism. The Auditor, and maybe Garret Goyle... That's his competition in the "inflicting misery" department. Two people.
So yeah, I think Sanford is pretty scary, even in the context of Madness Combat's world! And I love that for him. It implies some FASCINATING depth to his character when you compare this to everything else we know about him. He's likeable enough to have a partner that's fiercely protective of him despite not at all matching his sadism, he's goofy enough to taunt in m:pn2 and screw around in a clothing store mid-mission, he gets tired of dealing with Aud-hell bullshit like anyone would. What is going on with him that allows this dichotomy to exist? Fun to think about...
Zuko haters always bring up how he burned down Suki’s village. Which was bad, don’t get me wrong. (Pointing to Season 1 Zuko in general as a gotcha is such a ridiculous move considering the whole redemption arc thing, anyway.) But I always noticed that antis make it sound, like, way worse than it actually was. If you’d never seen ATLA and you read some of these comments, you might think Zuko actually purposefully razed the village because he hated Suki or whatever. When it was actually just the sort of collateral damage that naturally arises when you start throwing flames around wooden buildings.
Now, stealing Song’s ostrich horse…that was a real kick-the-dog moment. If you’re going to ignore Zuko’s redemption arc, harp on him about Song rather than Suki.
Finally have a character to be Shadebringer's equivalent to Joker, here's Melter. She's a hedonistic arsonist who follows every single desire she has, regardless of the harm it will cause. She also has the ability to teleport from anywhere to anywhere once a month, even if there is anti-teleportation magic/technology, letting her avoid the consequences of her actions. In-universe Shadebringer comics will range from making her a silly, camp joy to see in action, to a disgusting person with every paraphilia in the book. Echo definitely prefers the goofier iterations. If I'm making her the Joker equivalent, I probably need to make a lot of comic art for Echo to see on social media to convey the oversaturation of a character who's lost their fun (I miss when Joker was a silly guy)
I had cousins over for the 4th of July, and their kids were wearing dinosaur shirts so I started to talk with them about dinosaurs (bc I’ve got a big fossil collection and know a lot and want to get the kids interested in science). …And my cousins immediately go in on how they just went to the creation museum and absolutely loved the dinosaur murals there, how realistic and interesting! (They’re really strict southern baptists). I wanted to cry lol
If I had nothing to lose, I’d go around the country burning those museums to the ground. I really and truly would.
Villain kicked down the door to Hero's (not so secret) hideout, lazer ray drawn and ready. It was one thing to be a pain in the ass but it was another to just not show up to the bank robbery they've been planning for weeks. It was extremely rude and unprofessional of Hero! Villain took it as an excuse to take the fight to Hero's base.
However, they were a bit surprised to see a messy looking Hero wrapped up in blankets and watching 90's cartoons.
Hero pouted at the sudden interruption before lazily putting their bowl of cereal to the side and pulling the blanket over their head.
"Really! Not even a hello!? You should be groveling and begging for my forgiveness! You-" Villain was cut off by a throw pillow hitting them in the face. They didn't know if they should laugh at the sheer absurdity or burn everything to the ground. They settled on looking shocked and annoyed at Hero.
"Leave me alone. I can't deal with your theatrics. This isn't a good day." Hero buried themselves into the couch, accidentally knocking the cereal on themselves. Villain expected them to jump up and try to clean up but they adamantly stayed.
"Dude, what's up with you? You're never like this. And how old was that cereal?" Villain asked figuring that Hero was likely poking at it for the past few hours.
Hero shuffled, finally poking their face out from under the covers. Villain cursed themselves for not noticing the dark circles under Hero's eyes and just how frail they looked.
"I just need a pick-me-up. That's all. I'll be better tomorrow."
"I'm not taking that as an answer. Get up and hop in the shower. I'll clean up this mess and order dinner."
"But it's 8am?"
"No, it's 8pm dumbass. Now go take care of yourself before I have to."
No more pretty boy Michael Afton! From now on, Michael Afton will always be portrayed as unhinged and ratty. An absolute dysfunctional mess of a person, who hasn’t sleep a full night in God knows how long, and is about five minutes away from committing arson.
