i need to yap about how wildberry was written in legend of the red dragon. this man was fed up ๐ญ
its so silly how pitaya's existence managed to piss him off so bad that it gave him an attitude for the rest of the time he was on screen. he was so ready to end their shit ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ
but more seriously i feel people forget that there is way more nuance to him than being an emotionless tough guy. and yes im also looking at those wildchip shippers (because most of the time his and crunchy chip's characters are only explored in the context of their ship but that's a whole other issue) who believe their dynamic to be nothing more than calm x crazy.
wildberry used to be a "rough street kid" (his words) obviously to survive but it also couldn't have been easy to transition from having nothing to basically everything under hollyberry's care. his discipline was taught, his motivations were taught (and are deeply connected to hollyberry's trust in him), and i wonder how much of the way he acts he had to learn and how much are inherent.
i don't believe the way he acted throughout lotrd was completely normal, and by normal i mean wildberry levels of normal. while i don't always trust hollyberry's descriptions of his character (calling him "naggingberry cookie" is insane when in reality he's just very concerned for her ๐ญ) he was under her care up until he became a knight, so early adulthood i presume. she does know him very well and there are brief lines in this episode that allude to his behavior striking as unnatural to her:
(it's more obvious if you actually listen to hollyberry's tone but it sounds as though she's genuinely chiding him in these two scenes which we haven't heard before and never hear again as of now)
and this note in the collection book that i have NOT been able to stop thinking about. i really wish i could remember which part of the story this one unlocks in but it's probably related to those scenes, or maybe an earlier one. i could go on a whole other rant about hollyberry and wildberry's dynamic BUT this also implies she might've not had to correct wildberry's behavior in some time until that moment.
PLUS this little bit in his in-game description:
and how many times in lotrd did he request permission to beat pitaya's ass ๐ญ
but this is one of those few times where i don't think this was a matter of mischaracterization and, if anything, only added to him more. he is more calm compared to the characters he is often paired with (i personally believe he struggles to outwardly/properly express his emotions but shhhh) but there is an edge of roughness to him that likely stems from the time he spent on the streets during his youth.
and man i really do wonder how he feels about that. compared to his interactions with crunchy chipโwho he was constantly correcting the behavior of in the cookie odysseyโhe proved to be more emotionally mature, showed that he isn't afraid to admit when he's in the wrong, and that he can apologize without delay. how long did it take him to learn how to act that way? does he maybe feel like he isn't allowed to act any other way out of fear he'll lose hollyberry's trust and therefore his entire reason to keep moving forward? how does he feel about his past in general and how he used to act when he was younger? * does he feel ashamed of himself whenever he loses control over his temper? *
* well there is this singular line in his cookie info dialogue: "Am I still just a young Cookie in Hollyberry Cookie's eyes?" it could mean a lot of things. his concerns are often times brushed off by hollyberry and in his mind this could be a result of her still viewing him as young and naive. it could also be that the idea of hollyberry still viewing him as he once was when he was a child brings him worry as maybe he wishes to leave that part of himself behind.
* he also isn't beyond self-deprecation. we see it in episode 10 of beast yeast where he firmly believes that he failed to protect hollyberry despite literally dying in the process of doing so, and in his defeat dialogue: "I failed my kingdom" "I'm the one to blame"
he probably gained these self-deprecating tendencies from hollyberry herself, but all of this yap is mostly just speculation because we don't know enough about him.
what i'm trying to say is that he isn't always calm and emotionless nor is he free of any flaws ever. there is way more to him than just that. there's also more i can say about his dynamics with other characters like hollyberry and crunchy chip but this was only about lotrd's writing and oh how i miss it ๐ฅ i really love how it showed this different side of him but haatee how it raises so many questions that'll likely never be answered. it could be as simple as devsis just wanted to write wildberry with more of a temper because it made his interactions with pitaya funny and none of this will get mentioned ever again. who knows.
a shame devsis took wildberry outback and shot him rest in crumbs ๐
