Benjamin and marks dynamic was always something I could understand, even when I first joined the fandom I completely understood what direction saver was going with the  two characters. But as a romantic relationship? I was always confused and even a little concerned about how it would play out.

I’ll start with being upfront: Ben and Marks relationship trope is supposed to be the “miscommunication drama” trope. This is something I have no problem with in media. But I noticed that the more miscommunications that come up between the two, the much more toxic and unstable they become, inadvertently ruining any relationship (platonic or not) around them that is actually healthy for them. And yet despite all of this happening, they still manage to keep running back to one another for the entirety of the series because of their toxic obsession with each other, even if more shit goes down and leaves the two of them scarred. 

However, the final nail in the coffin for me personally, to make me dislike benjamark has to be the Luke arc (aka arc 2 of the series)

In this case; Mark finds out that Benjamin has a new (online) boyfriend after he and ash previously broke up. This boyfriend of his is Luke. Mark then proceeds to PRETEND to be Luke’s friend, and slowly manages to make Luke lose interest in Benjamin and make him fall in love with mark (basically causing Luke to unintentionally cheat on Ben in the process). After Luke breaks up with Ben and confesses his feelings to mark, mark basically reveals to Luke that he was PURPOSELY manipulating him to break up with Benjamin….all because he desperately wanted a chance with being with Ben. I’m sorry, but if my ex friend decided to fake being friends with my partner and causing my partner to cheat on me in the process, and then it’s revealed that that ex friend did all of that all because they wanted my partner to break up with me so that my ex friend can have a chance with being in a relationship with me. Even after they played a part in pushing my former partner to suicide?? I would NEVER fucking forgive them. (Also I’m not trying to make it seem like Ben is completely innocent in this arc, because he isn’t. I’m just explaining this from my perspective)

The one good thing I can say about benjamark however, is that I appreciate how different it is from most of the mlm representation we get in cartoons, so that is what I can give it credit for.