#tl:dr

Despite this, he still has traits (even positive ones) that make him seem pretty chill and down-to-earth. He could be a cool guy if he didn't have such a severe inferiority complex and light sadistic tendencies.

He cares about Fink like a daughter, and according to Ian J.Q., he genuinely wanted to know and get along with K.O. He just never learned how to actually be a father, and has no sense of discipline, even for himself.

On a side note, the show is transparent about the fact that two unmarried characters had unprotected sex (the only reason K.O. exists), which was previously unheard of in cartoons aimed at kids/teens until about the past 15 years or so. The show also addressed absentee father issues in a way kids could understand.

Getting back to Venomous, another surprising thing is that he falls in love with the highly ineffectual lesser villain in the series. Boxman is the antithesis of Venomous--being an amalgamation of cliché and obnoxious cartoon villain stereotypes--yet he has Venomous completely enamored, almost to a fault (it takes laughably little for Venomous to forgive him for even the most monumental screw-ups).

Boxman does manage to break free of some of his stereotypes, and it's because of Venomous. Aside from later interference from Shadowy Figure, the romantic relationship between the two is shown to be surprisingly healthy, and built on a foundation of mutual support.

It's nice to see the goofy villain end up with their crush, and the "attractive" one falling for someone you might not expect them to.

I originally set out to write this essay with the intent of proving that Mitsi isn't a fridged character.

Obviously people lose houses. But even if you don't shit can be BAD

No one talks about how hard it is when the media you grew up on told you that you are doing everything right, but the people in your life act like you are doing everything wrong. My mom when I was growing up always told me to be myself, but she was the first person in my teens to tell me to be more normal.

So let's rectify that, shall we?

Wilbur is pretty fucking incompetent. He's never been that amazing charismatic smooth talker we characterize him as (not that I'm not absolutely behind that too)

Like. Who did he ever successfully smoothtalk? The Lmanbergians? None of them were ever hesitant to join from the very beginning and Eret betrayed them pretty easily when Dream manipulated them.

Techno? Techno wanted to join them, he was the one who reached out to them. There was no convincing needed and Wilbur never convinces Techno of anything Techno wasn't already willing to do by himself.

Dream? Definitely not during the revolution and Dream's support during Pogtopia was Dream following his own agenda, not being influenced by Wilbur in any way.

He couldn't even get Quackity to let him into Las Nevadas.

Nah, the only person Wilbur ever smooth talked is TommyInnit. The fucking powerhouse of this cell. And even that's not completely true. Tommy hasn't been convinced by Wilbur of anything since the very beginning of the Lmanberg revolution. Not during Pogtopia. And not even now (it's not smooth talking if it's just exploiting mental exhaustion and trauma and all that. Tommy isn't convinced of what they're doing.)

Really. Not even Tommy, per se.

He just got Tommy extremely loyal and attached to him.

And honestly, that's all he needs.

You don't need to have influence over everyone, you just need to have strong influence over the right person.

And that's what Wilbur had and has.

Wilbur's accomplishments are just pretty much him having a vision and Tommy throwing himself at it to make it come true.

Wilbur had the idea for L'manberg but Tommy was the one leading the troops. Tommy was the one who negotiated for their independence and got it when Wilbur was negotiating their surrender. Tommy was the one who FOR NO REASON built the escape tunnel they escaped through when Dream blew up L'manberg and he was the one who built the lil panic room at the end. Tommy was the one who's home became the embassy to L'manberg (something Wilbur very much pressured and kinda manipulated him into btw. I'm never not gonna mention that lil detail when the embassy comes up)

Wilbur had the idea and stood around looking pretty. My guy literally stood around looking pretty, without armor, during battles. Just. I love him.

And let's not forget that Tommy was fckin great at being the general. The SMP was so much better equipped and still, L'manberg was kinda winning. To the extend that Dream saw the need for TnT (which was hidden) and the betrayal through Eret (which was hidden)

Dream felt the need to pull two deceitful moves to keep if not even gain the upper hand.

If I'm not mixing stuff up here, correct me if I'm wrong.

And stuff like the tunnel weren't even expected of Tommy. My boy just thought of that on his own and did it on his own. Noone knew it existed. Noone expected it to exist.

After independence Wilbur is implied to have been leading but he generally wasn't around too much. Tommy was keeping order in the more face to face kinda way. He tried to navigate people's personal conflicts and make sure things didn't escalate and just. He did so well.

And Pogtopia? Oh, Pogtopia.

It's a bit more difficult here, since they were no longer on exactly the same side and goals are more muddled but still.

(and I want to make it clear that I'm in no way trying to shame Wilbur for mental health issues or anything. This isn't about that. I'd never fucking even imply that)

Tommy kept morale high. He made sure that other people were fine, when there was a chance. He tried to reassure Wilbur when Wilbur was spiraling, he asked Tubbo if he was happier, he told Tubbo to be safe, he recruited Quackity when he saw the chance while making sure that Quackity's intentions were sincere enough (he didn't just naively offer Quackity a place in Pogtopia and risk it being a trap).

He avoided any kind of destruction to L'manberg as much as possible.

He rallied people.

Really, his one actual flaw was not "turning" on Wilbur. His unwillingness to give up on him or even just incapacitate him or limiting his ability to act as he wanted was what ended up costing him everything. His unwillingness to interfere with Wilburs plans beyond talking to him and threatening him with a crossbow that one time ended up making the 16th possible. And he can hardly be blamed for that.

And Wilbur, during Pogtopia... Well... Nobody liked him, he made everyone uncomfortable and most people just kinda tolerated him because... Yeah...

Without Tommy troop morale would have been abysmal thanks to Wilbur. He constantly put himself and his side down, labeling them as villains and thus morally inferior. He pitted his own people against each other, spread paranoia between his people. No communication or actually planning involving other people. Still refused to wear armor.

And don't get me wrong, that's the point. He wasn't on their side. Obviously Tommy added more to their victory, Wilbur didn't want their victory. But still I just wanna praise my boy Tommy, he was. So amazing. Boy fucking peaked.

He's so good in tactical warfare or whatever you call it.

And I wanna just make it clear that this isn't criticism of Wilbur. Not at all. This isn't criticism at all. This is just about the big fanon perception of Wilbur as this great and mature leader.

Tbh this is actually more about showing people how amazing Tommy was and PLEASE I WANT FICS TO HAVE TOMMY BE MORE OF AN EFFECTIVE POWERHOUSE

Regarding my former ask I just wanted to clarify again that I'm not trying to critique Wilbur or anything.

It's really just that I think it's hilarious how people remember him as way more put together and competent than he really was.

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Yeah, honestly one of the biggest disservice people have done to c!Tommy in this fandom is fail to portray him as the badass general that he actually was. Like, sure, Wilbur's title was as "general", but he never did anything for it. He gave a few speeches, but then the work was left up to Tommy. Like, genuinely, rewatch the Eret betrayal vod, Wilbur says it openly that he's leaving it in Tommy's hands. And Tommy does manage to lead his troops into an advantageous position! They get their enemies to retire at one point during the very first battle!

Then, of course, there is the betrayal, but, once again, Tommy didn't give up. He built the tunnel for their scuffed escape beforehand and, when everyone was just about ready to give up, he went against Dream in a duel and then traded the discs for their independence without loosing a beat.

Tommy was a BIG asset during that war!

Wilbur mostly was and still is kind of a wreak. And it's not his fault, 'cause mental health is an absolute bitch and he wasn't doing too hot after the war, then it got worse with Pogtopia and even worse during the 13 years in Limbo. And now we are where we are now with Wilbur being... not a great individual.

But still! In Pogtopia Tommy was the de-facto leader. And yeah, that was because Wilbur wasn't on their side anymore, but they didn't entirely know that. Or didn't wanna see that.

Tommy himself was hoping that Wilbur would "come back around" if he managed to get back their country. That was a big motivator for him. And he did everything that was in his power to do to not lose either Wilbur or L'Manburg. He tried talking to Wilbur multiple times, tried persuading him that there was another way, he never bought into Wilbur's ideals, he recruited people and he lead the troops once again. It wasn't Techno that lead the troops (despite him being a much better fighter) it was Tommy. And once everything was exploded and Techno and Wilbur betrayed them? Well he kept encouraging people. Literally I'm begging everyone to watch that vod! Tommy was there at every step of the way, telling Niki that it wasn't over, telling Quackity to keep fighting and, after that, you know who was there to validate Tubbo's presidency? To rally people behind him? It wasn't Tubbo. Tommy gathered everyone by the L'Mantree and got their spirits high once again.

He is just genuinely amazing.

I have seen a post (and discussed it with mutuals even because it was insane) about how someone understood Jason Todd as a character better than most because they "read so many Jason fanfics, watched Titans, watched Under the Red Hood, and read only one comic- A Death in the Family". To think you can grasp what a character is supposed to be or mean through fanfiction is outrageous. I do not mean that there is a fake vs real fans mindset, because I hate that too, but why then write mischaracterization in a way and act as it is anything but.

I work in an elementary school with kids as well as having kids myself. I believe one of the worst things someone can do is deny an opportunity for a kid to learn. If a kid asks why and you say "because I said so" then it is like cardinal sin to me. If a kid asks why and you don't know, that is okay, but then facilitate finding the answer. This translates into my entire world view and I don't feel like adding caveats is me being critical of posts, it is simply me offering people an opportunity to learn. I think of law degree dick and how many people did not know that, but once they learned of it, were eager to learn more and work with that version of him. How wonderful that they were given the opportunity to learn something and then use it.

I know no one can possibly follow every event in comics and every point of characterization and it changes all the time. I do not have those expectations. I also know that I am not the go to person for certain character representations (i.e. tim or stephanie even, let alone characters outside of the batfam), but what I love is I have seen enough credibility on posts from other bloggers or mutuals that I do know where I would go to find answers. I see how it can seem like I am trying to correct something, but I also want to lend credibility to myself. I hope people know that I do have a level of knowledge that they can trust if they want to ask a question.

It may seem pedantic to offer up "corrections" but I think people too easily forget the days when mischaracterization ran rampant and it made it impossible to enjoy any media with your fave. For example, when the whole "Dick sent Tim to Arkham" was at its peak and was widely believed by people not familiar with canon, it made enjoying almost any Dick Grayson content miserable because it all centered around the idea of him being that kind of person. It was not until Dick stans started corrections to keep that characterization in check. When you start seeing multiple posts about the same misrepresentation, it is a fine line before people who are not 100% in the know start believing there is basis for it. By reminding people that something is OOC it helps ensure fanon stays enjoyable for those who do want to enjoy their character and not an OC with that character's name just slapped on it.

Oh, that's actually a really good question and I can answer it on two fronts: one from using the phrase fairly often in my own writing and one from actual remarks I've gotten from my time working in customer service/retail!

On the first front: typically when someone writes the phrase 'their smile didn't reach their eyes' they're referring to a smile that is fake in the malicious sense. I.e.: someone putting up a warm or happy smile but you can see in their eyes that they're up to something or that the gesture in their mouth has been well-practiced while their eyes are showing the truth.

However, there are the times when the smile is false but the eyes are genuine in cases of sad or solemn characters trying their best to not drag everyone around them down. These would include: a leader who has just lost a beloved teammate but they're desperately trying to keep up a strong front for the rest of the team, even though the tears in their eyes are washing out their attempted smile

Or a character who is suffering from depression but doesn't want anyone to ask about it so they're keeping up a practiced smile though you can look at their eyes and see it's a mask.

On the second front, though: I actually had my own encounter with this. It was back when I worked in the 'healthy living industry': it had been a long day and I had kind of exhausted all of my cheer and 'kiss-ass-ness' for the day. This group of gym-bros came in and carried on whooping and hollering and asking stupid questions (because, obviously, since I was a thick girl I know nothing about workout regiments and supplementing).

They finally came to pay and I was smiling, doing all the pleasantries, etc. But then the dude who was in charge of paying looked at my face and said 'Wow, you are completely dead inside, huh?'