hiiiiii i think tsukasas empire was severely fumbled as soon as it turned from being about tsukasas ideology and fear into βthe stupid vs the smartβ and i do think this happened within the canon writing because regardless of how smart tsukasa himself is, he is shown to prioritize strength over strategy in his revival plans. and these strong people are very strong, but theyre never skilled nor intelligent, they just follow tsukasa. if it was shown more, if we saw tsukasas promises to his crew, it could have been interesting. i do think that if tsukasas ideology couldve been kept and summed up, it wouldve been
hurt people hurt people
(hurt as an adjective first, then hurt as a verb second; for anyone unaware)
tsukasa himself explained his own anguish and his own grievances. the fight between tsukasa and senku deserved to be a war of ideologies, of stagnant comfort vs uncomfortable but necessary growth. it very quickly turned into dumb vs smart, which isnt fair to tsukasa.
when i read fanfic that touched on the tsukasa empire, it was often framed as a group of insane and/or stupid people and while thats not untrue, its sad that thats all there is. and id like to think that if the tsukasa empire and its fear was treated with more respect, the fan response wouldve as well. because of course we dont like tsukasas empire! everybody there was backwards!
but. the empire wasnt bad because it was full of stupid people. the empire was bad because it was full of fearful people getting a first taste of comfort and fearful people willing to do anything to keep that comfort. intelligence has nothing to do with the matter.
