#kids...

You, you blew up their country. I- What did you expect, hero worship??? Like yeah, it's sad that everyone you know-- and maybe love idek at this point-- is scared of you, but it's not an invalid fear. Wilbur keeps saying he wants to be a better person, but he never acknowledges what he's trying to be better from. How can you change if you purposefully forget who you were? How can you apologize if you don't connect yourself to your wrongdoings?

The answer is you can't. This is why Wilbur CONSTANTLY invalidates other people's feelings. For example, when Wilbur got revived and Tommy basically said, "You don't deserve to be happy after everything you've done to everyone" Wilbur baiscally told Tommy that he was "bringing out the Wilbur from before", not that Wilbur doesn't have the tools to not use unhealthy responses when faced with conflict. Tommy isn't responsible for making sure he doesn't get yelled at by Wilbur. Not only that, but this only fruther proves that Wilbur isn't that far off from that old "bad" version of himself. It's isn't that he hasn't changed at all, or can't change positively now, he's just not making the correct efforts to do so.

I know people are going to feel bad for Wilbur and in turn invalidate all the other characters, and it's frustrating to me because you can do both. You can feel bad for Wilbur and know he deserves the treatment. You can wish he had positive, supportive relationships while knowing that no one has to, or really should, forgive him. One party doesn't have to be "overreacting" for the other to be valid in their feelings.

I think the only reason Wilbur doesn't have this mindset is because he has to admit blame in an incontrolable way. When Wilbur apologized to everyone, he did on his own terms. When people needed a different type of apology, or if any apology just personally wasn't enough for them, he lashed out. I feel like he thinks he deserves, or is even owed, forgiveness, which... he isn't. And because he cant process that it leads to a vicious cycle of him lashing out, people hating him, him being mad at people hating him, and then him lashing out again. People constantly talk about how "complex" Wilbur is only when it benefits him. Yes, he's complex. Yes, hes a tragic character. At the end of the day neither of those things matter, or should matter, to the people he hurt.