Why Do I Have To Wake Up

I wonder how bizarre the US-Spanish War was for observers in Europe? like yeah the US has never been 100% truly isolationist, but Alfred has for the most part stayed to his side of the Atlantic (the Pacific is another story…). all I can imagine is just

Arthur, watching Alfred beat Antonio’s ass in 1898: if I had a shilling for every time I went a few decades without seeing my son Alfred and came back to find him grown and changed significantly more quickly than any nation naturally ought to, I’d have two shillings. which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

@vogellicht the silly <3

Take this as an offer of friendship

Still don’t know why you liked my post where I was asking for art request

DROP YOUR DX FOR VOX !!!!! Please and thank you.

I would like to preface all my posts on headcanons related to psychology and mental illness with a disclaimer: diagnosing mental conditions, especially personality disorders, can be extremely challenging. It's a complicated process that relies heavily on a psychologist's interpretation of facts, making it susceptible to biases. Personality disorders cannot be diagnosed based on surface-level observations and are not just labels that we can assign to people like in the case of MBTI. Additionally, I am not a clinician with any expertise in diagnosing people. Therefore, the following post should not be taken as a reliable professional opinion. It's simply my interpretation of the internal mechanisms that may be responsible for the behavior of certain characters in my fan fiction. Furthermore, I want to make it clear that I have no intention of stigmatizing people with personality disorders by associating them with villains. A personality disorder does not determine someone's character or make them a bad person. Some characters may be evil because of the choices they make, not as a result of their mental conditions.

(I've already posted some stuff here so I'm not going to repeat myself.)

Okay, so, Vox has Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). It's crucial to distinguish this from "common narcissism" (people often described as "narcissists" by others just because they are egotist assholes; kinda ableist, you shouldn't do it because it's extremely stigmatizing towards people suffering with actual NPD) . While those individuals typically function well, those with NPD exhibit all the traits – grandiosity, egocentrism, attention-seeking, intense power fantasies – but as it's a disorder, these traits lead to inflexible and maladaptive patterns of behavior and cognition.

NPD has its roots in intense feelings of shame, low self-compassion, and self-loathing. In my interpretation, Vox has always felt inadequate. His father inherited an enormous amount of money, establishing a media conglomerate in the 20's. Vox's mother, captivated by the world of movies, used them to escape her reality as a trophy wife. Despite her dreams of becoming an actress, Vox's father, possessive and protective, prevented her entry into the entertainment industry. As a compromise, he made their son a child actor, with the condition that it would be temporary. When Vox grew older, he was expected to transition to learning business and other skills, ultimately to take over the family's empire.

So, Vox was never enough for either of his parents. His father thought of him as annoying and unserious due to his talkativeness and exaggerated behaviors, attributing it to growing up surrounded by actors. As for his mother... Vox turned out to be a terrible actor, struggling to convey emotions that weren't bombastic and over-the-top. Being a teenager is humiliating enough, but imagine being a teenager bad at something and forced to do it for a worldwide audience, when the whole production crew is annoyed with you. Fortunately, he grew up to be devilishly handsome (not to be a simp, I just believe someone must be handsome to endure the ethereal punishment of having their face swapped for a TV screen) and entertaining, leading them to make him a TV host and media personality.

Anyway, NPD is all about creating a perfect self and projecting it to the world when you're deeply ashamed of your true self. It means that, no matter what you're doing, you're constantly concerned about how it looks to other people. You constantly play an exhausting game, trying to win gold stars of social admiration for every-fucking-thing, guided by superficial ideals of wealth, perfection, beauty, and, above all, power. One reason Alastor's existence bothers Vox so much is the fact that he cannot comprehend the idea of someone choosing radio over his "objectively better and correct" medium. Vox lacks the ability to understand nuanced sentiments, which ironically makes him thrive in Hell. In this anarchocapitalist, lawless society, survival of the fittest prevails, and this is a game he excels at playing.

Generally, the best approach for individuals with NPD is to pull them out of delusional thinking by confronting their beliefs about the world and themselves with reality (it should be performed by qualified therapist, especially when someone hasn't completed any kind of therapeutic process yet). However, in Hell, Vox's behavior was no longer in violation of social norms; on the contrary, it was highly rewarded. Consequently, he completely lost his shit, became unhinged, and began acting on all his previously suppressed urges. He finally fulfilled all narcissistic power fantasies and became (almost) untouchable. Now, he's ready to kill anyone who questions him, seeing it as threatening to his fragile image of the perfect self.

He exhibits strong bipolar tendencies. Most of the time, he's power-tripping in a semi-maniacal state. Periodically, he undergoes deep, depressive episodes, locking himself up in his apartment and avoiding interaction.

Constantly guarding this fragile image of the perfect self that he built is exhausting. The bigger this image gets, the more fragile it becomes, like a house of cards. And guarding it becomes more and more exhausting. But there's nothing scarier than the idea of the facade falling apart and people seeing him as he is: imperfect and vulnerable, damaged and ashamed, rotten and evil. Deep down, he knows he's unlovable, and it hurts. He knows that true love exists; he craves this ultimate form of admiration and devotion, but it requires vulnerability and honesty, which he's not capable of. He's only vulnerable with Valentino, and only occasionally when he's intoxicated or when Val fucks every last thought out of his body. He's very much a controlling top insecure about his masculinity, so the latter happens rarely.

Also, drugs. Oh, do this man enjoy some coke. Other drugs and booze, not so much; they make him feel less in control. But getting coked up, going out, causing a scene, killing some poor souls, and relishing this feeling of being completely untouchable? Feels so good.

When it comes to Alastor, he hates him because he's jealous. Despite all his efforts—building a perfect persona, a perfect company, perfect entertainment—this stinky, outdated, and boring radio demon gets so much attention and admiration that should be his. Moreover, he feels that Alastor can see right through his bullshit. He's so paranoid about it that he's almost certain Alastor knows about his childhood traumas, about his death, about all his truths, and could one day broadcast it for all people of Hell to hear. So, he needs him dead.

Note: these headcanons (especially Vox's past) are very important part of my fanfiction. Please feel free to use them in your fics but I'll appreciate if you tag me 🩷

I love Alfred being sweet and optimistic and golden retriever boy but have you considered how fucking funny it would be for this sweet man to utter the phrase “bitch better have my money.” this hc was brought to you by the fact that DC and NYC have managed to find a loophole in the diplomatic immunity of foreign ambassadors by withholding US aid from the country unless the embassy pays their diplomat’s fucking traffic tickets.

If you’re a diplomat on U.S. soil, you can steal, plunder and murder to your heart’s content without having to face the legal ramifications of your actions. But, by God, you better pay your parking tickets in New York City.

I rest my case. bitch better have my money

0

I see Alfred as being more informed by his interactions with his states, sometimes cities, and also with Indigenous nations.

This is not to say that his interactions with European nations are unimportant especially his interactions with Arthur, Francis, or Ivan.

But when I look at US history, I understand the creation of the US as:

1. An agreement of states, who viewed themselves more of as nations, to form the United States. Before he can even begin to try and sway Francis to helping him in his revolution, he needs to convince his states to join him first, and not all of them were eager for Revolution. Especially given the fact, these British colonies operated differently from one another and were culturally distinct because they operated under salutary neglect (AKA Arthur wasn’t super present cause he was constantly getting involved in wars & was cash-strapped)

2. The US being a settler colonial state used war against Indigenous nations to expand its borders through violence.

I find this second point is lost on the fandom especially in narratives regarding American expansion, but also the American Revolution. It always irks me a bit to see the American Revolution as describes as Alfred’s first war, when it wouldn’t have been, especially if you are assuming he’s existed prior to the revolution. There were many different wars even prior to the revolution with Indigenous nations involved.

There were also many European wars with North American theaters — the French and Indian War which is the Seven Year’s War was the precursor to the revolution. Actually lol the amount of European wars with North American theaters did influence this push for isolationism (as in from Europe) following the revolution.

Anyways this confusing ramble is to say, I find the overemphasis on Alfred’s relationship to European nations like Arthur, or Francis, tends to gloss over the settler-colonial violence in North America due to European colonization. Also I find ignoring, or stating Alfred’s first war as being the revolution a bit…icky ? In the sense that it’s like people do not seem to view Indigenous nations as sovereign of the settler colonial state thus they’re not viewing the wars between indigenous nations and the settler colonial state as not being “true” wars as they view wars between the US & European nations.

I also find the fandom tends to just generalize the US as being broadly English in nature, and fails to further examine regional English identities that but also non-English identities that later come form various different cultural groups in different US states. And idk this also leads me into another conversation of why I’m not a fan of like putting a lot of different identities especially marginalized ones into Alfred’s character but that opens another can of worms that I do not wish to open right now LOL.

also this goes without saying, but im not saying you have to agree with me, nor am I saying if you never had this thought you’re like bad or whatever, I’m just stating my views lol

i ate oatmeal and some white chocolate.

i feel disgusting now

alfred f jones would absolutely kill riding a mechanical bull i said what needed to be said

Alfred, as a character and not just a nation, is very intriguing. He’s his brother’s greatest achievement and his greatest disappointment. A failure, but a winner. Put up on a pedal stool from a young age to show off to the rest of the world. He was a catch that everyone wanted, and when he finally got caught, he was paraded around and boasted about like a fancy prize.

People wanted him, but gave up on him as soon as the odds turned against their favor. His family loves the image of him that they created, but are indifferent to how he really is. Rotating between awe and pity and nothing in between. His friends either act like he’s a nuisance or hang off his arm.

He’s needed but scorned. Wanted but pushed away as soon as he’s done with the task, and having them act as they never asked for his help in the first place. As a person, it’s hard not to feel bad for him.

Well he had to KNOW if it was bad you know??

“Tomándote el pelo“

”Taking your hair” it’s a Spanish saying, meaning: the action of mocking, tricking, teasing. fooling or lying to someone. For example, just what Macaque did to MK. Look at me doing connections. Also hair.

I fully believe that MK with his hair up looks like Monkey King (or at less a monkey), I know it in my heart–

Also, he had to put his bandana in a knot for… REASONS.