#bfsmp avid

I very much appreciate him acknowledging and taking responsibility for the role he played in enabling and perpetuating misogyny in the MCYT space by leaning into the "yaoi slop" in VSMP just for the attention and growth it got him. He said himself that he sorta sacrificed a lot of the depth of his character for attention, and he regrets that.

And, of course, I love that he shone light onto v!Avid's relationship to v!Shelby and how their dynamic was much more complex and interesting than his relationship with literally any man on that server.

I didn't expect him to flat out say that v!Avid probably loved v!Shelby in a way, but as someone who has loved their dynamic since episode 1 and started shipping them around episode 4 or 5, it made me really happy to hear the creator himself acknowledge that and seem genuinely upset and disappointed over the fact that the fanbase really just didn't put any kind of focus on them and instead constantly pushed v!Shelby to the side in favor of the yaoi slop.

Also bringing up v!Drift and how, despite them not having much romantic chemistry, they still had a very deep, almost sibling-like, bond that, again, was more complex and interesting than his relationship with any of the men.

Avid has said many times, both in and out of character, that he is more comfortable around women and marginalized genders than he is with cis men (which is something I relate to a lot). In Vampires specifically, his trauma with Elle made it so that he was attracted to and got attached to the women that reminded him of her, namely Shelby and Drift. They were his everything, and no man could ever replace them in his mind.

I will say that one issue I have, which I've already seen others bring up, is how he handled his Bannerfall character. I'm not actually caught up on Bannerfall, so I haven't seen any of the VODs from the day he was on the server, but Avid making his character nonbinary with the express purpose of hoping it would turn people off of flirting with him just feels so... icky. I understand that he's still learning and growing as he discovers who he is and his own identity, but the implications behind that decision certainly rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, myself included. Saying that enby people cannot be yaoi or yuri, saying that they inherently are less likely to be desired, and implying that a straight or gay person cannot fall in love with an enby without being bi or multispec in some way is just simply wrong and, quite frankly, are very hurtful things to say. I'm sure he'll apologize and correct himself once he learns, if he hasn't done so already, but that doesn't erase that what he said was hurtful to a large portion of his audience.

But in the “I am an undiagnosed neurodivergent and am incredibly hyperfixated” kinda way, HERE WE FUCKING GO!

SBK1!Avid: People don’t talk about either of the SBK seasons enough, but I do not see like any SBK1 content, I need to remedy that, I am aware. Now, that nonbinary boy was literally turned into a monkey cause Olm found him so inconsequential and pathetic, he tried to micromanage the world to be safer cause he was terrified of going back to Limbo, on top of that, part of him was still in Limbo! He was trapped and the second Marm tells him she knows, he damn near breaks. He doesn’t want to talk about it, Limbo is terrifying, Limbo took so many years from him, he’s scared. Then we have the Birch Box situation, which was essentially a relapse of Limbo, not to the same degree, but Milkman and Fool had the same disregard for Avid’s autonomy that Olm did, and I think that’s really fucking cool! He came to terms with being a monkey, something that Olm turned him into, and Milkman and Fool wanted to shave him, that’s fucking scarring. (We love Lawyer Vintage btw)

SBK2!Avid: We know from Linda (SBK2!Pyro’s assistant) that Avid canonically has resorted to substance abuse “again” he was completely stuck in so many poor situations because of his need to be seen, his need to be validated, for his dad to finally see him as his child rather than another object for profit. Avid is brilliant, he’s smart, he found a way to make matter, he found ways to travel between worlds, and he did that before knowing Marm, now, none of that he was actually able to carry out because of his dad, and that’s really sad. Marm is what gave him some damn confidence to get funding for the project, but then his dad fucking kills Henry and that leads to the accident, something that we know scarred Avid a lot, as it should, he lost his leg, and he resorted again to isolating himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s another case of when he went to substance abuse. But when we get to Skyblock, it is safe to assume that Avid sought the approval from Marm after everything with his dad, and we have a safe assumption that his issues with his dad is also what drove him to go to Skyblock, cause we know that’s why he was figuring out interdimensional travel. Marm was the next person Avid held in high regard, which leads him to wanting to help her do anything, trapping him in a damn similar situation to what he had with his dad, with the Mass.

V!Avid: Queer allegory, we all know this really well that this point, but he is an example of a bisexual allegory. He switched his tune so fast cause he was trying to convince himself he was gay, he’s not, he’s bi, and that’s something really fucking deep for an improved story. Now, V!Avid is the one I have probably talked the most about thus far, but everything I say still stands! He has a parallel with so many of the characters, his death was the catalyst for everything that happened in the finale. His friendship with Shelby and Drift is an example of looking for friends in a place of such severe grief after killing Elle. Dare I say, he looked up to Apo and Pearl—and probably Cleo as well—because they all reminded him of Elle. He has a clear parallel with Owen with the sickness and losing the only person who cared about them, he and Pyro are so similar story wise. He and the Doc are opposites. But I agree with Avid’s take a bit ago, his connections with the more female characters have a lot more depth than any of the more male characters. I still really love V!Avid :3

Bf!Avid: Dubbed by Avid that they’re “His one character without trauma” but that is very clearly… Not the case. Now, we had bf!Avid for one day, and I still love them so much omgggggg. 1) This is the character that made me pause and start to figure out that I wasn’t cis but 2) FOR A CHARACTER WE HAD FOR A DAY WE GOT SO MUCH DEPTH OMG! bf!Avid is stuck in a toxic stimulation where he has been straight up kidnapped by someone they are terrified of, on top of that, he blames their naivety for why he’s in this situation, but Oli was a manipulator, and goddddd that misplaced guilt is so well played out. They’re terrified the entire night market, of the humans, yes, but largely of Oli, that’s consistent. They return gold that was given to him to Oli and their voice is trembling he’s trembling when everyone locks Oli into the dungeon (A moment of appreciating for the Minecraft acting) AND GOD I LOVE BANNERFALL AVID!

Tf!Avid: I! FUCKING! ADORE! THIS! CHARACTER! tf!Avid is someone who grew up being taught things that forever changed how their worldview would be, everything he was taught to be normal, things they were taught to hate turned out to be wrong—there is a reason the philosophy “I think, therefore I am” is so well known—their worldview got shattered because of his own internalized homophobia, he hates themself because of what he stood by and let happen, he lost the person they cared most about, and he misses them. They like pain because “to live is to be in pain” and it makes them feel something other than anger. Now, they see characters like Graecie and Marm and he just wants to protect them, people with such a different way of seeing things, people who are kind because they can be, and Avid wants to protect them. They’re socially awkward and have anxiety and they CANONICALLY CUT THEMSELF CC!AVID W H A T! And everything can be tied back to their driver, hate and anger, he wants to help the world by taking out a corruption that is in his own blood, and they hate himself for it. 

Misadventures!Avid: I know the least about this character, and I’m starting to watch Misadventures for the first time while writing this, but I love his premise here. Terrified of the unknown, driven by a hope for survival. Love him despite not knowing him.