#ultraclops

Thinkin’ ‘bout

Ever since “Small” came out, we learned that Shin Mao isn’t just a neglectful father, but his personality is if you take Mao Mao’s egotism and turn it up past eleven. So it isn’t that far fetch an idea that a lot of Mao Mao’s worst self came from Shin Mao.

The starring example of this is naturally the episode “Ultraclops”. An episode about how Mao Mao and Adorabat ignore Badgerclops’ complaints about their behavior towards him. If you go about watching this episode again, you will suddenly come to the realization that Mao Mao has been doing to Badgerclops what his own father did to him!

A new theme emerges from this episode as it now becomes a visual representation of the cycle of abuse. Shin Mao mistreats Mao Mao by neglecting him and treating him like a child. Even into adulthood, Shin refers to Mao Mao’s has as a “doll house”, his sword as a “toy” or “glowstick”, and makes constant jabs at his sheriff duties as if they aren’t important. Mao Mao does similar acts of belittlement towards Badgerclops by making him sleep on the bottom bunk, ignoring his interests, and treating him as if he was comic relief.

If you connected the dots then congrats! Mao Mao recreated his home life without realizing it. He played the role of his father. Adorabat held the role of his sisters, and Badgerclops as Mao Mao. Both Mao Mao and Shin Mao treated the ones affected by their bad behavior as if it was all just a comedy that everybody is expected to laugh at. Neither of them realizing just how awful they truly were until it is too late.

Mao Mao was only able to break out of this cycle because Badgerclops finally got fed up with the treatment and told him off. Mao Mao soon realizes how hurt he really made Badgerclops feel and put an effort into changing things for the better. We see this happening again in “Small” where it is now Mao Mao who is finally done pushing his own feelings down for his father’s sake, and finally told him off. It was only at that moment that Shin Mao broke his pompous persona and gave his son a look of concern for the first time.

To truly understand Shin Mao’s abusive behavior is to understand that he doesn’t do it to intentionally spite his son. He does love his son, but he is also compromised by his own pride to see how that pride affects those around him. Unlike Mao Mao, Shin Mao probably never had a friend like Badgerclops who points out his flaws when they rear their ugly heads. So those flaws kept running forward unchallenged until Mao Mao finally stood up for himself.

Hmm...