FWIW I would read that Rey/Kylo fic. And am so, so sick of the way fandom treats him, not because I really like him that much (though I would like to know more about his backstory which is apparently the same thing?) but because… people aren’t mocking him for being a murderer or a patricide or working for a genocidal regime? They’re mocking him for having feelings, basically, and his being a bad guy is supposed to make that okay.

star-anise:

YES YES YES.

Actually?  They’re mocking him for being unmasculine.  And okay, the beauty of Kylo Ren in the movies is that it takes souped-up hypermasculine rage and shows us that in reality, it’s not all badass and fearsome–in reality, it’s infantile and pathetic.  So I love that!  It’s what canon portrayals of MCU Loki really lacked.  Whereas TFA went out of its way to show us stuff like the two Stormtroopers figuring out Kylo was having a tantrum and backing away slowly.

But you solve a problem like Kylo Ren by leaning more into his feelings, by helping him figure out what’s really bothering him and addressing it.  Whereas I feel like if he just “manned up” and was all stoic and badass and had no moments of weakness, fandom wouldn’t be nearly so critical.

And okay okay I get that humour is how we deal with discomfort and problem spots and it’s a legit coping mechanism for people BUT WATCHING THEM DO IT DRIVES ME UP THE WALL.  

Because everyone would like to say that he’s whiny and like a teenager who doesn’t appreciate his loving parents, but, well… we all KNOW the Jedi’s approach to emotion and attachment is fucking toxic!  Luke could handle it, but Luke reached adulthood before he lost his loving and stable caretakers.  And Han and Leia are great people but seriously, I grew up near an Army town and most of my friends were Army brats, it is a known fucking fact that even if great people are fighting for the noblest cause in the world, if they have to raise a child in an environment of chaos where parents are at frequent risk of disappearing or dying and nobody prioritizes the child’s emotional health, it will have consequences.