I'm so happy to see so much Roman crit bc for some reason he's always been a fan favorite alongside Virgil (and honestly I can't stand either of them lol) but I'm even happier about the Patton defense!! It feels like the fans blame him for anything happening ever. They're just biased imo bc I can tell you FOR SURE that if it wasn't for c!Thomas' Christian background being connected to Patton's character, ppl wouldn't be so hard on him. At least I don't remember half the fandom demonizing him in the earlier days of the show. Anyway thanks for the cool posts <3
Yeah, haha. I do love Roman (and Virgil) but he gets basically zero criticism. Not just in fanon, but in canon, too. I don't think he'd be half as annoying if he got called out/suffered consequences for his actions. The only time Roman's made a meaningful sacrifice is SvS, and it was basically turned into a bad thing in SvSr. (Which is mostly c!Thomas' fault, and I will always stand by this. I should start posting c!Thomas crit, there's not nearly enough of it, haha)
Roman in SvS: I think we should go to the wedding, and that's my decision, because I don't want to be deceitful.
Roman in SvSr: I made a bad choice to go to the wedding, except no, I didn't, it was Patton's fault, actually. In fact, I'm going to blame Patton more than Janus, and then get mad when Patton (somewhat rightfully) won't defend me against him.
H U H
The fandom: Roman is right.
H U H
I could bitch about SvSr for a while, and I probably will, but that's for another time.
But, yeah, Patton. He gets way too much hate, and I think that's in part, because of his stans. All the sides have toxic stans, but I think Patton's might be the most vocal. I'm not 100% sure, though, Virgil stans might be louder. I know annoying/aggressive stans can ruin a character for people. Not to say that's the only valid reason to dislike him, there are plenty of valid reasons. However, I think those reasons are overblown sometimes. Patton can be pushy, but so can the other sides. I'd say the others are pushier, actually.
When Patton doesn't want to do something, the others (including c!Thomas) will push and push until he gives in, because they know he'll give in.
They know Patton is soft in the heart. They know Patton wants to make Thomas and others happy. They know Patton is holding back, because he's the peace-keeper and has "real" thoughts on things that he's not saying. And, yet, Patton is seen as the pushy one in the fandom (and canon), because he *checks notes* has strong opinions about his role/function and stands up for them passionately. Gee, that doesn't sound like the other sides at all. The other sides totally don't fight for their opinion to an almost annoying and overbearing degree. Only Patton does that. Yep. (sarcasm)
I think Virgil might be the worst with pushiness, actually, but he's the fandom baby, so he's never called out for it.
If I had to guess, Patton gets more heat for pushiness, because he's often not aligned with what the audience wants. In SvS, Thomas and Roman wanted to go to the callback, so the audience also wanted that. And Patton wanted to go to the wedding, so, the audience was against him. At least, that's what I think based on fandom reception to SvS, SvSr, and other episodes. I actually think the audience was originally supposed to side with Patton, but when they didn't, Thomas acted like the intention was for us to side with him and Roman.
I digress.
The fandom is 100% biased, haha. Which, is understandable, to a degree. The fandom is pretty queer, and a lot of queer people have religious trauma. So, I understand being uncomfortable with a character tied to religion. The problem is the hypocrisy. All of Thomas characters are tied to religion, because Thomas (the character and the real man) is tied to religion. Thomas was raised Catholic, and that comes up in certain episodes. And, the funny thing is, most of the time, it's not Patton bringing it up.
It's usually someone using religion against him or using it to reason with him. But, Patton's not forcing it on anyone. To be fair, religion is part of why Patton's being too strict in DWIT, but it's not the main driving force. Patton might be the most religious side, but his actual philosophy seems closer to "do no harm, take no shit", or at least it used to be, before he was convinced he was the bad guy. There's so much to say about how much and the way Patton's character has changed, but most of it is heartbreaking. I might write that someday, but not today, haha.
But, I'd also like to add that the bias against Patton probably also comes from him being straight passing and him being the Dad Character™.
Patton isn't all that visibly queer, so I think that makes it harder for visibly queer fanders to relate to him. Unlike Virgil and Roman, who are not only more visibly queer, but much more vocally queer.
I wouldn't say Patton is shy with his way of showing queerness or anything, but I don't think it's as inviting or digestible to young queers watching the show as the other sides' are. Logan was also a victim of this for a while, until the orange side stuff started happening, then he was woobified to the moon and back. But, that should also be its own post. My main point being, it's a lot harder for people to sympathize with someone they relate very little to. In fact, the harder it is to relate to someone, the easier it is to villainize them.
Then there's the thing that Patton might remind fanders of their Dad From Real Life and hold that against him. Which is understandable. Emotions are valid, and there's nothing wrong with using characters to vent/cope. But, it becomes a problem when people are blind to how the characters actually act. When people act like their emotions are canon characterization and hate on anyone who knows canon. That's unfair to the character and, more importantly, the real people just trying to talk about the character.
I can't tell you how many times I've tried to have a discussion about a character, that ended up fruitless, because the person I was talking to was mad at Someone From Real Life. It's exhausting. And, again, emotions are valid, but sometimes we have to put our emotions to the side and look at the character's actual actions. Easier said than done, I know. Ironic to say that when talking about the character that is technically in charge of Thomas' feelings, haha. Which, again, should be its own post, because I kind of hate that.
It's not fair that one side is in charge of Thomas' feelings, especially, since the sides have their own feelings. Feelings that Patton is supposed to take care off, too, apparently. Patton has way too much weight put on him, and the others basically outright refuse to alleviate any of that weight.
Anyway, thank you for the nice ask. Feel free to send more, I love answering them. As you can probably tell from how long this post is, haha.
