There’s a lot of Paper hate in the II community, and when I say a lot I mean A LOT. Paper is one of the most polarizing characters in the show, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s part of the first canon ship, he’s a complex character with a lot of nuance, and these two things tend to get people hating a character.
Think about the amount of hate Pencil (BFDI) gets for being morally ambiguous. Or the hate and mischaracterization given to Taco and Cabby. He’s in a similar boat, having done some not-so-great things I will get to later. Paper also gets hate for being in the first relationship within II, only because of a few fanservice moments.
I don’t believe the Paper hate is justified. He’s more than just “gay and racist”, he’s more than an inconsistently written character, and he’s more than OJ’s boyfriend.
Paper tends to get hate for being “mischaracterized”, despite never going too far from his character in season one. Paper has always been paranoid. He’s always been afraid of others, and he’s always been the first to panic at the thought of danger. Paper was the one to fret about going back to Idiotic Island in s1 ep16, Paper was the one to fear Taco in s2 ep17, and most recently, the one to point out Poppy in s4 ep2. He’s nervous, and he always has been.
Paper’s actions in s4 towards Poppy and MeTag are not unexpected for him. OF COURSE Paper would feel nervous and uncomfortable around two people connected to Steve Cobs, who indirectly killed OJ and threatened the lives of everyone on the island. Does he take it too far, especially in ep4? Yes. But are his fears unfounded? Absolutely not.
Think about it from this perspective. If you and everyone you know and love were to nearly die because of someone, would you feel comfortable being around people who were connected to them? Forced to work, cooperate, while pretending you’re not threatened by their presence? Even without his paranoia, Paper still has every right to be uncomfortable by MeTag, and to some extent, Poppy.
Paper did take it a bit too far in ep4, but his motives weren’t out of malice. To his knowledge, MeTag and Poppy are a threat to the sanctity of the island, and he doesn’t know how to handle this level of stress in a healthy way. That’s why OJ talking to Paper at the end of the episode was so important. Paper shows he does want to make things right with Poppy, and realizes antagonizing them isn’t a productive way to cope with his feelings.
I’ve also seen points about how Paper shouldn’t have antagonized Poppy in the first place, as they didn’t do anything wrong. While yes, Paper’s line of thinking is flawed, he’s not a bad person because of it. Hell, he’s not a bad person even for harassing Poppy.
Paper is extremely paranoid. As someone who struggles with severe paranoia, it’s incredibly difficult to see rational and reason while stuck in a spiral. I do believe Paper is trying his best to grow past his anxiety surrounding Cobs, and OJ certainly helps him out with it. It’s concerning to me, seeing a large part of the II community openly admitting they have no patience for people with severe anxiety.
Paper’s story, of hurting others out of the fear of being hurt himself, is one many people who struggle with paranoia, severe anxiety, and other mental issues can relate to. OJ’s reaction—pointing out the issues in Paper’s rationale and not responding with aggression—is how people with these mental issues should be treated with. Not as villains who antagonize and hurt others, but as people deserving of respect. I could go on about how this ties into mental health being seen as an issue only when it doesn’t fit what society sees as a neurodivergent person, but that’s outside the scope of this discussion.
Paper tends to get a lot of hate for being in a relationship with OJ. People see a couple doing couple things, and suddenly a part of the community believes the writers have made Paper into “OJ’s boyfriend”.
Honestly, going in from the start, I was worried about Paper being turned into a tool for fanservice. However, after ep3, my worries on that end were alleviated. While yes, payjay will still live on and have fanservice moments, Paper is still his own independent character. His relationship with OJ is just a piece of a very complex character.
I’ve seen a number of posts on “payjay made Paper into OJ’s ‘bottom’”, and that’s just not the case. There’s been, what, five tiny scenes with Paper and OJ being together? Paper has so much more than just OJ, considering how much of the screen time he’s taken up recently. Paper has always been his own character, and payjay will never change that.
But why make this post now? Because I am afraid of what’s gonna go down when Evil Paper/Looseleaf comes out in the remaster.
Looseleaf is another facet of Paper’s character, and she hasn’t been explored in fifteen years. And, with how many references to Looseleaf there are in the II finale, along with Lightbulb mentioning her, it’s likely Looseleaf could return in s4.
No matter what AE does, Looseleaf will cause some drama when remaster ep10 comes out. If they keep her the same? Stigmatizing towards people with CDDs. Make her not an alter? Erasing CDD representation. Honestly, Looseleaf in her entirety is the biggest issue the remaster has to tackle, and no matter what, her mere existence will be controversial. I’d really like to talk about everything wrong with Looseleaf, but again, out of scope.
Why did I even bring up Looseleaf? Well, if AE wants to make her less stigmatizing and offensive, one way to do it would be to bring her back in s4. Then, give her some character development of her own, so she doesn’t fall into the “evil alter” trope.
My fear is, if this happens, Paper will get even more hate. One arc is pretty uncommon for most II characters, but two? For a character which nearly won his season? I can taste people calling out “Paper has so much favoritism from AE” in advance. Paper already has a massive spotlight, so giving another arc to him and Looseleaf is another way for people to hate him.
And if AE decides to not put Looseleaf in s4? Then we’re stuck with a stigmatizing part of a polarizing character, with no hope of fixing the issue completely.
When Adam said Paper was the most mischaracterized character in the cast, I can’t help but agree. It’s hard, so hard, to find a good representation of Paper anywhere online. Either people hate him or love him, and I rarely see people in between. Paper, along with Looseleaf, is a fantastic character, and I really can’t wait to see him in the remaster and s4.
TDLR: Paper II is cool okay
