Response to this post, but on a separate post because the original post is very, very, long. And this post may also end up being long because I have a lot to say. Absolutely no hate towards OP, I just have a lot to say about how certain fans treat dear ol' Betty.
And I want to make this very clear. You can have Betrayus be your favorite character. He's one of my favorites from the show and I think he's pretty silly! But even I know that canon!Betrayus doesn't deserve to be treated with sympathy after what he has done IN canon. You can empathize(?) with Betrayus and what he... may or may not has gone through in his life.. that we hardly know anything about.. but you cannot act like he is completely innocent.
And this shouldn't need to be typed out, but I will anyways: Do not be mean to OP just because you have differing opinions.
With that being said, we march forward.
"He is emotionally neglected & abused"
We have no active confirmation for that, other than from Betrayus's perspective, to which he is known to be an active liar.
"I’m gonna say something controversial- ROTUNDA IS PART OF THE PROBLEM."
Hot take! That's not at all controversial and a lot of people that coddle Betrayus always use Rotunda as the main reason as to why people should "feel bad for him".
And I very much disagree with it! Why? Because in the one episode she shows up in, she is rightfully dismissing him wanting to come up to the surface. Because even she knows that Betrayus, the man KNOWN for being up to no good Is- and you guess it! Up to no good!
The phone scene in Episode 23, VERBATIM:
Betrayus: Why don't you ever come visit me..?
Rotunda: Oh I'm sorry dear but you're a- well a specter who lives in a nasty place filled with ghoulies.
Betrayus: But if you told that meanie Stratos to open the repository, I could get my body back and come visit you.
Rotunda: Oh look dumpling- we both know that if you had your body back you'd just try to take over Pac World again, so.. no can do sonny! Tata!
Betrayus: Well- Pretending to be nice didn't work- It's time for brute force! I have a brilliant idea that will show my mommy the true meaning of nasty!
Fork found in kitchen! Is anyone surprised..?
"His own brother, Stratos, was literally seen as the perfect child while Betrayus struggled to keep up."
Now think about that.
Imagine growing up like that.
No matter what you do… you’re never enough.
So when people say: “he’s just evil”
NO.
He is: emotionally neglected & abused, desperate for approval, a product of favoritism
I genuinely do not know if there is ANY point where Stratos is referred to as "the perfect child" or if every other betrayus fan just, seemingly infers that on their own. Either way, I do not believe this to be true.
" HE STILL CARES. HE STILL LOVES HIS MOM. HE NEVER STOPPED WANTING HER APPROVAL."
When did he ever want her approval? I'm pretty sure he just wanted his body back to be evil- but alive this time! And, if he truly loved his mother, he would not be using her against her own will in his own schemes to take over pac world, again.
This next one is a long one:
"I’m gonna be honest.
The way people treat Betrayus?
It bothers me.
Because people say:
“he’s annoying”
“he’s dumb”
“he’s just evil”
“he’s the worst villian and character”
“he’s childish, whiny, and a crybaby”
“he never learns sh*t”
“he’s annoying”
“he’s abusive and cowardly”
“he’s a hypocrite”
But ignore: His trauma, his childhood, and his need for validation.
You don’t have to excuse his actions.
But you SHOULD understand them.
Oh I can absolutely understand him being the way that he is due to potential events that could have occurred in his life. But we know next to nothing about it. Other than:
He was forced to wear a mustard costume.
He is actively jealous of Stratos.
He feels like Stratos is the favored sibling.
He was pranked on Halloween- But hey wait wasn't he pranking people on Easter every year? Why does nobody ever bring that up..
I cannot remember anything else off of the top of my head, but those are the main things I remember- for his childhood at least.
"His trauma" means nothing to me. Because what could have possibly traumatized him so bad to where he needed to start a war and dedicate his time to eradicating a specific group of people because they might have "stood in his way" from him taking over the world. Nothing he has gone through will ever justify the initial writing of his character to be a genocidal dictator. And I feel like people forget that sometimes.
"He used to be a Pac-Worlder
and more importantly…
he was part of the Spheros family.
And from what we know:
He is the younger brother of President Spheros (Stratos)
He grew up constantly compared to him
And Stratos was seen as the “perfect child” but he can be viewed as a GOODY TWO SHOES TWO-FACED LI'L B***H and always getting Pac into deep s*ht and not even apologizing for it, not only weighing the ENTIRE world on a teen's shoulder like WHO tf does that?! It's like a dumb4ss in distress, WHAT ABOUT YOUR BROTHER, DUDE?!"
First of all, you guys always go at Stratos's throat for these things, as if Betrayus isn't doing anything that is equally as bad. Sure, Stratos too isn't innocent, but he's way more innocent compared to what Betrayus did and continues to do.
And- was Betrayus constantly being compared to Stratos? Because I genuinely do not remember.
Yes, Stratos sending out teenagers to fight the undead is. A strange choice of writing. However, Betrayus is also actively antagonizing those said teenagers and is willing to throw the entire planet under the bus, more than one time mind you, to get what he wants.
Conveniently, everyone who makes posts like these likes to leave that part out, crazy right?
But, both brothers are not innocent, which I honestly find charming more than anything.
"Betrayus snapped.
He started a war against Pac-World
trying to take control and prove his worth
— likely to finally outshine his brother.
And what happened?
He lost.
And not just lost…
💥 He lost EVERYTHING.
His body
His status
His place in the world
He was turned into a ghost…
and banished to rule the Netherworld instead.
That’s not just punishment.
That’s isolation."
His previous "status" was a Commander who was blowing up people left and right and commenced a first strike on an innocent kingdom- same with his place in the world actually, it's really messed up!
"Being banished to the Netherworld isn't just a punishment, it's isolation" Yeah sure, this would be true, if it weren't for the fact that his "isolation and punishment" was for the safety of their entire planet.
You saw in episode one- episode freaking one! That the war was literally them bombing what looked like half the entire planet! And you guys think just being nice to him would have undone all of what has been committed? Treating him nice now of all times would have undone the implied destruction in this show targeted towards small children? I genuinely think not.
"Betrayus is NOT just: “evil ghost guy lol”
He is:
💔 the unfavorite child
💔 the forgotten son
💔 the one who never got what his brother had
And honestly…
if things had been different…
if he had been loved equally…
💔 maybe none of this would have happened."
I will die on this hill that canon!betrayus literally is just "Evil Ghost guy lol". I feel like that sums him up pretty stinkin' well if you're looking at him at face-value!
I'm also noticing a lot of the... reasons people come up with for why Betrayus is the way that he is are always things that can be more aligned with being a headcanon, rather than being actually canon. But that may just be me.
And maybe none of this would have happened if... actually... I have no clue what could have happened to change how the show came out story-wise.
Yeah sure people could have been nicer to betrayus, but would that have actually stopped anything? Or would it have boosted his ego? Idk, i'm not here to speculate that hard about it.
"💢 I do NOT like Rotunda. 💢
because the way she treats Betrayus??
(｡•́︿•̀｡)💔
it reminds me of those types of characters who LOOK sweet…
but are actually:
💔 dismissive 💔 controlling 💔 emotionally harmful"
Gang, one of her children quite literally started a war and did a genocide. I feel like we can give Rotunda a little more slack here.
🌸 FINAL MESSAGE TO VIEWERS AND PMATGA FANS
So if there’s ONE thing I want people to take away from this video…
it’s this:
💖 try to understand characters before judging them.
because sometimes…
the “villain” isn’t just evil…
they’re hurt.
🐺💖 FINAL LINE
and honestly…
no matter what anyone says…
💔🐺 Betrayus deserved better.
This would be pretty powerful if it wasn't being used for Betrayus!
You know, guy who, at the time before Episode 19(?), was written to have said "But I wiped them out- at least I thought I did.." in Episode 1 when referring to Pac and his entire freaking race of pac worlders. The guy who almost caused a ghosteroid to hit the planet, caused a space worm that has an inconsistent size to almost uproot everything, and caused climate change! Literal climate change! That thing was going to heat up the entire planet and kill everything on it if it meant killing some kid! and also he threatened to kill his niece- why does hardly anybody ever remember that!?
*4:20 AM post-editing amoeba here: I forgot that Betrayus only "wanted" to help with stopping the Ghosteroid because it was going to wreck his entire everything aswell, not just the surface like he had hoped.
And For what? Because he may or may not have been neglected? Because he may or may not have had a horrible childhood?
I understand that you guys like Betrayus, but you guys cannot ignore the countless things he has done and turn around and go "he should be treated nicer! he's just lashing out because he's hurt!"
Make an AU where he is like that. Like how you want him to be. Where he is genuinely and understandably hurt. Rather than looking at canon!Betrayus and grasping at what little information you have and twisting other characters to seem more awful to make Betrayus seem better, and to make him seem justified in starting a war.
But iiiiieee don't know!! do whatever you want, i won't stop you. Im just some dork behind a screen spittin' up words about a kids show that ended like, 9 years ago. but if you're super aggressive about hating characters that r "mean" to your faves I probably won't talk to youuuu
Last tidbit and then i'll leave or whatever- "#JUSTICE FOR BETRAYUS" is craazzyyy work after everything listed above, and I probably wouldn't use that like, ever
"#Justice for pmatga" however, is cooler because the show as a whole could have been so much better, but that's another talk for a maybe never time.
as someone who has unknowingly been in a "mentally unstable femme/do anything for you butch" [i was the do anything for you butch] dynamic i have to say it did severe damage to me and my idea of self worth. i was walked on in horrendous ways. i was not treated like a human or a person with feelings. i was manipulated. i was sexually coerced to do things that no one should ask someone else to do. it has taken me the better part of a decade to recognize the damage this did to me, and it took a strong network of friends (and a particularly supportive and protective femme friend) to help me realize that i deserved to be treated like a person.
i am really tired of seeing butches and femmes alike endorse the idea this is uwucute. its not. its extremely damaging. butches, please find your self worth. recognize that you have needs too. femmes, respect that butches are people. saying mentally unstable femmes use service-oriented butches is downright wrong and disrespectful. i dont care if its a joke or memepost. im exhausted. i know there is a lot of loneliness in being butch and femme. but we don't need to be glorifying unhealthy relationship dynamics, even as a joke. you can get the dynamic you seek (dominance and control) from healthy individuals that respect your personhood. everyone in the community deserves better.
I wouldn't say I'm upset I'm a dragon, but why does my ass have to look like the Minecraft ender dragon. I'm a black dragon with purple eyes help lmfao
