The Umbrella Academy - Blog Posts
This would be so adorable to see as an actual scene (◍•ᴗ•◍)
Imagine five babysitting Claire or one of Diego’s kids and was forced to play Just Dance but he’s actually extremely good at it and starts getting really competitive against the kids
If five had home on his own I feel like this is what it would look like , like a liminal space type area , gives off major staying at grandparent's house and I think the first pic feels the most like five and I can completely see him sitting there with a newspaper and a cup of coffee in hand like just get rid of the blazer and you already reach grandpacore and probably also replace the shorts with either cargo shorts or dress trousers then you reach peak grandad vibes 😎
These kinds of outfits yk (≡^∇^≡)
I'm pretty sure I'm very much taking him ooc idk but I only watch parts of season 1 and haven't watched the rest due lack of motivation so I'm just taking everyone else's word for it 😗
You see, the biggest problem with this is that Five HAD a love story all along.
His love for his family has been THE very foundation of the show and what kickstarted the entire chain of events.
He spent 45 years in the apocalyptic wasteland because he loved them too much to give up.
He found them in every possible timeline.
He reversed time for them.
He became an assassin to get a shot, however small, at coming back to them.
He’s been through countless timelines, doing his best to save and protect them in every single one of them.
No matter how dire the situation, he always pushed to find a way to save his family. His devotion was stronger than anything and there was no line he wouldn’t cross for his siblings. No matter how self-destructive the cost, he sacrificed himself again and again just for a chance at reuniting with them and saving the world so they could live.
It was a destructive kind of love, yes, but also inspiring. I think it resonated with many people because love can be intense, we love and want to be loved with this kind of intensity and dedication.
So, to throw it all away for a romantic subplot that no one asked for is not only a huge disservice to Five’s character but also goes against everything he represents. We already knew he’s capable of love and that he loves deeply.
I don’t understand how the showrunner who worked on the series for 5+ years can say that Five had to have an arc like this. It doesn’t make sense. He already had a love story. Arguably, the most beautiful and deepest of them all. He didn’t need more, what he needed was to have it returned and to finally settle down after multiple lifetimes of putting his life on the line to keep his loved ones safe.
To say otherwise means that the writers fundamentally misunderstood what made Five a great character and what fans loved most about the show. It feels like a betrayal, because it is one. It proves that the creators not only misunderstood the core character of the show but also never paid attention to the fandom and its preferences.
There’s a difference between catering to the audience and what they ended up doing, which is a character assassination at its worst. And it’s not just the character who was ruined but also the entire premise of the show, the reason why fans loved it in the first place. There’s no coming back from something like this.
Rec list
Stranger things, marvel, marauders era, the umbrella academy, slashers
Stranger things
EDDIE MUNSON
Tongue
Eddie Munson smut AND Jason Carver slander. What could possibly be better?
Such a strange girl
Eddie and hippie being cuties.
Movie night
Bat Eddie and his uncle Wayne.
Noodle
Ferret dad Eddie.
Family
Wayne being a protective uncle and so much comfort.
STEVE HARRINGTON
Stay awake
The softest and fluffiest angst around.
Pretty
Steve deserves all the praises.
Dream
Cutie Steve beginning his dad life.
BILLY HARGROVE
Welcome to the party
Kind of ooc Billy but being a protective cutie.
Road gate
Very soft Billy with sadness but fluffy ending.
Marvel
BUCKY BARNES
Personal pillow
Kick your feet, twirl your hair type of fluff.
Pocket angel
Cry your eyes out type of fluff.
Sweeter than sugar
Chubby Bucky owns my heart and soul, forever and always.
Your protector, forever
A dark but soft Bucky.
Can you not
Possessive Bucky is a hot Bucky.
The bet
People being meanies to Bucky and a protective reader.
Serendipity
Bucky just trying to live with an unhinged neighbour.
Around my neck
Bucky being a silly jealous boy.
And you’re mine
Again chubby Bucky owns my heart.
STEVE ROGERS
Religion
Dark Steve and innocent reader.
LOKI LAUFEYSON
Little realisations
I agree tall people are scary.
End credits
Loki being a sweetie.
Hot tea
Jotun Loki smut. Chefs kiss.
Marauders
JAMES POTTER
She hexed me!
Stupid lover boy Jamie.
SIRIUS BLACK
That doesn’t leave us many options
Cutie Siri and beautiful references to blanket forts.
REMUS LUPIN
Easy sleeping
Soft domestic relationship.
REGULUS BLACK
Regulus Black x Potter!Reader
Dramatic James and soft Reggie.
The umbrella academy
FIVE HARGREEVES
Music to my ears
Cute husband and wife shit. A whole lotta caring Five.
Hotel waffles
Retired loving Five.
Partners
The best type of relationship.
My little stress eater
Softest five around. All the fluffs while still being a bad bitch.
Slashers
Slasher cuddling HC
Falling asleep on slashers
Slashers s/o with tattoos
Slashers reaction to their s/o laying on top of them
Slashers with a demon s/o
Giving slashers massages
Slashers with s/o who has weird cravings for inedible things
Slashers with s/o who proves their loyalty to them
Hide ‘N Seek (Bo Sinclair)
Blind (Bo Sinclair)
Yautja with a chiropractor s/o
Wasted on a dream
Wound tending (Bo Sinclair)
Kissing slashers in a panic before they kill you Part 2
Male yautja trying out a period cramp simulator with his human mate
Michael and Jason with a reader who plays the sims
Receiving a love letter
Miscellaneous
MATT MURDOCK
One more time
A soft and fluffy fic that provides Matt with love and happiness.
SPENCER REID
Every last bite
Cute Spencer and magic baker, so cute!
Buried alive
Sad times but so sweet.
AARON HOTCHNER
Home sweet home
Aaron being protective and little rage for spice.
JAVIER PEÑA
Agent Peña
Javier looking hot in his vest.
LOGAN HOWLETT
When she squeezed me tight, she nearly broke me spine
I want to break his bones.
The Walking Dead
DARYL DIXON
Day drinking and it’s consequences
Glenn and reader being drunken simps. Cute Daryl just trying his best.
No matter what they say
Grumpy and sunshine.
Found you
The cutest reunion and Merle being a good guy.
A single punch
A truly heartbreaking and stunning story, Maggie being amazing.
Beef
Daryl being a bitch but he makes up for it.
netflix… if i see you in the streets…
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 (Deleted Scene)
I totally agree! I don't want them to treat it as if it's something that's done overnight and I think showing him spiral even farther than he already is would be helpful in also making it more obvious that addiction isn't something that just goes away, it takes a lot of work and sometimes it's a life time commitment to getting better and that it's okay too.
I'd also love to see the use of therapy being beneficial for ones wellbeing because though there are instances where it can cause more harm (I've experienced quite a few personally), not all of it is bad. We have so much media that portrays it as something bad (we even see that Diego and Lila in S2 when one of the staff threatens and even hurts Diego), so showing the good that can come from it would be great. There's actually a fic I've been reading where the writer talks about Klaus going to therapy and sharing some of his therapy sessions with his siblings and I really love that!
Of course, with the episode limit there's no way to fit all of this on top of everyone else's storylines and I don't want a spinoff focusing on just Klaus like some in the fandom want because damn do I love him, but I would have loved for this all to be a part of the major storyline.
I saw your post talking about Klaus' addiction and how his family plays into the role of how society tends to treat addicts, which I totally agree on and I'm so thankful to see others speak up on it, but I also wanted to bring up that there's even more issues with how some people in the fandom, and society as well, treat addiction.
A lot of society only treats addicts horribly if their drug(s) of choice are "hard drugs". Nobody sees Allison's smoking cigarettes in S3 or all the drinking done in all seasons as an addiction because they've been so normalized. They're so normalized that there are hundreds of shows that show a lot of drinking and/or smoking cigarettes/cigars and hardly anyone considers any of those characters as addicts.
And I think that also plays into the way Klaus' siblings treated him while struggling with addiction because they participate in it too, but they never get called an addict because their addictions are "normal". "Why can't Klaus just drink like everyone else and not do 'hard drugs'"?
Oh absolutely, I did actually get into this a bit in a follow-up post (here)
And like, addictive behaviours can latch onto anything. Gambling, exercise, food, shopping, music, sex, gaming... if it gives a moment of happiness and dopamine it can become maladaptive as an outlet and an escape...
Alcohol causes much more social and physical harm than many "hard" drugs, and in much smaller quantities, despite being much more socially acceptable. And it isn't criminalized in the same ways (which is good, because criminalizing a health issue is wrong and doesn't work, because social rejection and judgment force people deeper into addiction, and by making things illegal you create black markets and fund organised crime and really do everything to increase the problem at hand).
And you're right in that the siblings (and society) treat drinking (and smoking) as different, even with Klaus who is very much an alcoholic...
Because many people do turn to bad habits and alcohol during bad times.
But it is interesting to note that while a large number of the siblings are self-medicating during that time due to their level of alcohol use, and in a very unhealthy way, it doesn't necessarily mean they're addicts as well. Or rather, not addicts in the same way as Klaus.
I'm reminded of a study done about drug use, particularly heroin usage, by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Where drug use was ubiquitous and at incredibly high levels. And yet when most of these soldiers returned home they stopped using it entirely (and this is a physical dependency causing substance, so unsupervised withdrawal can easily kill a person).
Because they were no longer in the situation they wanted to escape.
Of course not every soldier stopped using, and the homeless, addicted veteran is a well-known figure in the popular consciousness for a very real reason. But often those soldiers who kept using weren't coming back to any sort of support system or a good situation at all. And there was, and still is, a huge lack of support for the trauma inflicted by war on those forced into it ( I say as someone who had half their family conscripted into a Cold War related war, even if it wasn't the Vietnam War specifically).
It was something of a real-life example of the Rat Park experiment, which has trended on Tumblr before, and also illustrated how connected addicted behaviours are to the environment that people are in...
But this is to me part of why they treat their behaviour as "different" and why they also don't bother Klaus about his drinking in s2 and 3, even as he consumes much more than any of them and started carrying a flask again that he's seen drinking from constantly, even in the less stressful situations he's in since he first relapsed s2...
Because he can't stop once he started again.
The others can't comment on his drinking, if they even notice it with everyone being so wrapped up in their own things, because they're all also drinking at unhealthy levels, particularly in s3, and it's the end of the world so from their perspective, "fuck it!". But even though their own dependency at that point is unhealthy, it's still not at the same level as Klaus's...
Because there is nuance when it comes to addiction and dependence and situational dependency and so much else...
But it is also cause for them to finally sympathise and recognise that "there goes them but for the grace of god", because they really aren't as different as they would like to think... (which tbh, it seems like Luther got after s1, given how he's treated Klaus since)
This is another reason why I'm also so sad about the 6 episode announcement. Because these things being addressed would be best without the apocalypse hanging over them all and giving them the excuse to ignore stuff
But yeah, I think they're gonna be stretched to try and wrap up the plot, and character development and moments are gonna be sacrificed...
Anyway, I have so many thoughts about these topics, and I am so thankful for every ask that allows me to indulge in me thinking my thoughts!
I kinda keep forgetting their situation as something that's tremendously traumatic, which is probably due to how often it happens. 😅 With that, yeah, I should have also considered "why" they're doing it and if it would be something they'd stop doing once the traumatic situation ended, which we can see some of them not drink until they find out the world is ending again (or in Allison's case in S3 she starts drinking when she realized Claire isn't in the current timeline and later on drinking and smoking).
I agree that I wish there were more episodes because not only do I want to get an answer to some of the questions we all have, like Allison's current situation, but I also want to see Klaus at least managing his addictions and maybe even having help from everyone. By then, not only would he be in a different environment that isn't as similar as his environment in S1 (and hopefully no impending doom like S2 and S3), but he'd also have a support system that he needs and wants. I want to see him get sober and not just because it's nice to see character development that's good for them and their wellbeing, but also because I'd love to see more media portray that if you're suffering from addictions it doesn't mean your life is completely ruined. I don't want his addictions in S1 to be seen as "some quirky thing we can added to him that we'll never talk about again". I'd also love to see him turn down an alcoholic drink because he knows it'll affect him negatively or his siblings always make him mocktails and such with everyone else so he doesn't feel so alone. I'd be surprised if we get any of that in S4, but a man can dream.
I saw your post talking about Klaus' addiction and how his family plays into the role of how society tends to treat addicts, which I totally agree on and I'm so thankful to see others speak up on it, but I also wanted to bring up that there's even more issues with how some people in the fandom, and society as well, treat addiction.
A lot of society only treats addicts horribly if their drug(s) of choice are "hard drugs". Nobody sees Allison's smoking cigarettes in S3 or all the drinking done in all seasons as an addiction because they've been so normalized. They're so normalized that there are hundreds of shows that show a lot of drinking and/or smoking cigarettes/cigars and hardly anyone considers any of those characters as addicts.
And I think that also plays into the way Klaus' siblings treated him while struggling with addiction because they participate in it too, but they never get called an addict because their addictions are "normal". "Why can't Klaus just drink like everyone else and not do 'hard drugs'"?
Oh absolutely, I did actually get into this a bit in a follow-up post (here)
And like, addictive behaviours can latch onto anything. Gambling, exercise, food, shopping, music, sex, gaming... if it gives a moment of happiness and dopamine it can become maladaptive as an outlet and an escape...
Alcohol causes much more social and physical harm than many "hard" drugs, and in much smaller quantities, despite being much more socially acceptable. And it isn't criminalized in the same ways (which is good, because criminalizing a health issue is wrong and doesn't work, because social rejection and judgment force people deeper into addiction, and by making things illegal you create black markets and fund organised crime and really do everything to increase the problem at hand).
And you're right in that the siblings (and society) treat drinking (and smoking) as different, even with Klaus who is very much an alcoholic...
Because many people do turn to bad habits and alcohol during bad times.
But it is interesting to note that while a large number of the siblings are self-medicating during that time due to their level of alcohol use, and in a very unhealthy way, it doesn't necessarily mean they're addicts as well. Or rather, not addicts in the same way as Klaus.
I'm reminded of a study done about drug use, particularly heroin usage, by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Where drug use was ubiquitous and at incredibly high levels. And yet when most of these soldiers returned home they stopped using it entirely (and this is a physical dependency causing substance, so unsupervised withdrawal can easily kill a person).
Because they were no longer in the situation they wanted to escape.
Of course not every soldier stopped using, and the homeless, addicted veteran is a well-known figure in the popular consciousness for a very real reason. But often those soldiers who kept using weren't coming back to any sort of support system or a good situation at all. And there was, and still is, a huge lack of support for the trauma inflicted by war on those forced into it ( I say as someone who had half their family conscripted into a Cold War related war, even if it wasn't the Vietnam War specifically).
It was something of a real-life example of the Rat Park experiment, which has trended on Tumblr before, and also illustrated how connected addicted behaviours are to the environment that people are in...
But this is to me part of why they treat their behaviour as "different" and why they also don't bother Klaus about his drinking in s2 and 3, even as he consumes much more than any of them and started carrying a flask again that he's seen drinking from constantly, even in the less stressful situations he's in since he first relapsed s2...
Because he can't stop once he started again.
The others can't comment on his drinking, if they even notice it with everyone being so wrapped up in their own things, because they're all also drinking at unhealthy levels, particularly in s3, and it's the end of the world so from their perspective, "fuck it!". But even though their own dependency at that point is unhealthy, it's still not at the same level as Klaus's...
Because there is nuance when it comes to addiction and dependence and situational dependency and so much else...
But it is also cause for them to finally sympathise and recognise that "there goes them but for the grace of god", because they really aren't as different as they would like to think... (which tbh, it seems like Luther got after s1, given how he's treated Klaus since)
This is another reason why I'm also so sad about the 6 episode announcement. Because these things being addressed would be best without the apocalypse hanging over them all and giving them the excuse to ignore stuff
But yeah, I think they're gonna be stretched to try and wrap up the plot, and character development and moments are gonna be sacrificed...
Anyway, I have so many thoughts about these topics, and I am so thankful for every ask that allows me to indulge in me thinking my thoughts!
Treat Yo’ Self
Treat Yo’ Self : An Umbrella Academy family story
Warnings: None
When Allison comes into the kitchen for her morning coffee, she notices a group of little paper bags lined up on the table. Each of them has a number written with black magic marker, reminding her of the way Grace used to pack their lunches.
These are about a third the size of a lunch bag and decorated with little ghosts and things. Allison suddenly remembers the date, October 31st.
Halloween treat bags. How adorable!
Halloween wasn’t the same without Claire, of course, but maybe a little Halloween treat might help to dull the pain.
She opens bag number three. It’s gummy bears. Her favorite. She crams a small handful into her mouth, then sits down to check the news and relax with some toast and coffee.
Diego comes in and gestures towards the bags. “These from mom?”
“I guess so.”
Diego looks into his bag and smiles.
Keep reading
Klaus: If your grave doesnt say "rest in peace" on it you are automatically drafted into the skeleton war
Diego: I'm gonna be cremated so imagine a cloud of bones flying over the battlefield
Klaus: Oo metal
PLEASE never let Five Hargreeves find out about irish coffee that man would go BALLISTIC if he does
Viktor: Synonyms are weird because if you invite someone to your cottage in the forest, that sounds nice and cozy, but if you invite someone to your cabin in the woods, they're going to die.
Five: Yes, it's called "connotation".
Allison: My personal favorite is butt dial vs booty call.
Klaus: Mine is "forgive me, Father, for I have sinned" vs "sorry, Daddy, I've been naughty".
Luther: Great news! Language is now cancelled!
Klaus: Do you ever feel like there’s bugs crawling all over you when there’s nothing there?
Viktor: That’s the ghosts of all the bugs you’ve killed.
Klaus: ...
Five: Viktor, quit traumatizing Klaus.
Klaus: I wasn’t that drunk.
Viktor: You colored my face with a highlighter because you said I was important.
Klaus: BECAUSE YOU ARE!
Klaus : In my defense, I simply don’t vibe with the law.
Klaus: Be gay, do crimes is all well and good, but one can also be queer, instill fear
Viktor: you forgot be trans, throw hands
Diego: be bi, go for the eye
Five: Be ace, punch face
Luther, the struggling token straight™️:…I’m scared of you all
Klaus: Hate crimes? Hmmm no I love them
The chaotic energy behind Klaus's "we played catch!" is giving me new life. Klaus, you died.
So apparently there's this script for a tua season 1 episode that never got made. It's about their 23th birthday.
You guys.
A couple of things that stand out:
- That cross stitch Diego had in the boiler room that was so obviously a gift from Grace was a gift for his 23th birthday.
- Also, Diego went every week to visit his mom. I'm crying
- Klaus was in jail at this time, and he accidentally killed a guy in self defense.
- Allison is there but we just see her struggling not to use her powers on every day issues.
- Also apparently Patrick was her acting coach.
- She needed it.
- Luther was pathetic and I want to cry for him bc I love him so much but God was he dumb. Also the Accident happened the day after his birthday.
- Viktor had a girlfriend, who looked so sweet at first but then he found out she was cheating on him. On his birthday. Ouch.
- Five flirted with a woman named Delores in a 1940s (I think) bar, and it was so sweet and heartbreaking. He got a little kiss for dancing with her. It was great. Get it, old man.
- Five traveled to 2012 for the commission, saw Diego leave the academy, and couldn't stop himself from shouting his brother's name. I am HEARTBROKEN
- The Handler stopped him before Diego could see him, and also we have confirmation that the Handler was fucking creepy. She kissed Five after proclaiming he was hers. Five stands still and closes his eyes. I'm... feeling things. Mostly homicidal rage.
- Viktor visits Klaus in jail, which develops into the best conversation I've ever read.
- They talk about Viktor's book. Klaus is very supportive. Reading the whole script is worth it just to read that conversation JESUS CHRIST:
- Apparently, Grace announced one day at the dinner table that Diego had had his first wet dream.
- Klaus asks Viktor if he had added that lovely little anecdote into the book.
- Viktor responded with an: yeah, I did.
- Christ almighty I know understand why Diego was so fucking angry VIKTOR HARGREEVES YOU HAVE ZERO CHILL.
- Okay seriously overall that conversation is very sweet. Best klaus-viktor interaction. 10/10
- Also I find hilarious that Regginald tried to call them all separately but obviously no one picked up, so his next thought was: "well. Better start planning my own funeral".
- The quip Klaus made in the Void when he asked Reginald "couldn't you just have called?" Is a thousand times funnier knowing that the bastard DID call, but Klaus missed it bc he was in jail.
That is all for tonight lovelies, this was heartbreaking to read but overall amazing, I recommend you read it, here is the link
me after finding out that the founder of the Commission turns out to be some other version of Five:
Five: No drinking, no gambling, no premarital sex. Klaus, they basically just outlawed 90% of your personality
Klaus: We need to leave
ACE FEI IS CANON WE WON
I can't get over Harlan
This poor child was born in a time where society doesn't understand people like him, and would've been hauled to an institute eventually, in a span of a few days, he drowned, resurrected, acquired an insanely powerful ability he had no way of controlling. Just when he thought things were okay, he and his mom had to leave, and for many many years they've been on the move because it turns out- No! He STILL has the power that he doesn't know how to control and its only growing stronger and everytime he lose control they have to leave. Until one day his mom- the one person who had been by his side in all these hard years- passed away. And then he was alone, waiting for Viktor, remembering his promise to come back.
And then Harlan finally get to meet him, but then found out he unintentionally killed Viktor's mom as a result of his losing control. And when Viktor finally knew how to take back Harlan's power- the main source of his suffering all these years- he was killed, his freedom cut short because of something that was out of his control.
Harlan deserved better.
reginald lied to klaus about his death in 3x07. in 3x06, when klaus comes to visit him, it’s a day; it’s still a day when reginald electrocutes him to death:
it’s night, when allison comes to the academy with harlan’s body in the trunk (and there’s also klaus’ body somewhere in the academy):
and it seems only the NEXT DAY reginald takes klaus out for training. in 3x07, reginald tells klaus he remained dead for 22 minutes. so, klaus probably thinks it’s still the day when he told reginald about the white buffalo suite; the last thing he remembers is being electrocuted. reginald also adds that klaus was totally vulnerable, and he could’ve taken any of his organs. klaus is shocked, because why good ol’ reggie would do that, right?
the training starts at 1:15 p.m., reginald writes it down. logically, klaus’ 22-minute-long death should be listed as 001, but:
it’s 004. 22 minutes - lower body (something something), and LACERATION? before that, 003 - failure (?).
between klaus’ FIRST electrocution and the bus-ball training, reginald had killed him not one, but four (FOUR!) times. and, most likely he did indeed try to cut him/cut out his organs (?) to check on how/if his dead body can heal itself. spoiler alert: klaus CAN HEAL HIMSELF even when he’s dead. later, we can see it in 3x09 when he comes back to life when the wound on his stomach has ALREADY healed. (so no one could steal his falling out guts, right? reginald knew. old bitch fucking knew).
so, i think reginald kept electrocuting klaus all night between 3x06-3x07 (with the method reginald chose, it could probably mess up klaus’ memories? he literally doesn’t remember shit except for being electrocuted one last time?) until he made sure that: a) klaus comes back fairly quick now (attempt 003 says 26 minutes, not bad, not bad!) and b) his body heals from any injuries so haha getting crashed with a car is not a big deal.
klaus has this habit of searching for answers and purpose in the same place he lost them. his autonomy was stolen from him as a child, and he lives with that loss every day. it’s quite common for people with that experience to live with dissociative symptoms, and i actually think klaus is a realistic portrayal of that. while it’s never outright said that it’s dissociation he deals with, i think a lot of survivors could probably see it in him. he’s always seemed to feel a disconnect with himself, with his own body (for example – and this is a small one – when he told ben “you’re not getting in this body,” rather than my body). his identity is something transient, something that shifts drastically sometimes depending on the situation he’s in, which is a common experience in people with dissociative symptoms – we’re like “chameleons.”
he forgets key things regarding his trauma: that, or his brain will twist the events to make them more palatable to himself. he didn’t remember being killed as a child, even though it happened multiple times. and despite not remembering anything, he still has visceral reactions when it comes to being confined. he may not consciously remember every event, but his body does, and so he reacts accordingly, as if the threat of being killed again were a present one. because the body remembers the loss of control, it remembers the autonomy that was once stolen. then there’s “bus ball.” obviously, it was an objectively shitty, terrifying thing, being once again murdered, multiple times by your own father and abuser – and as an experiment, no less. despite that, the events were portrayed as something that was for the most part fun, almost. and when he vaguely recounted said events later on, he referred to it as “bus ball.” like it really was nothing more than a game. that’s another common dissociative symptom, and a common trauma symptom: being so disconnected on a certain level from your own trauma that you’re able to talk about it like it’s nothing. that you’re able to remember a skewed version of it so that you don’t have to internalize any of the real terror.
touch is another one. klaus is a very tactile person. he communicates well through touch. but he often doesn’t like being touched, unless it’s from someone he knows, loves and trusts.
he startles easily, too. will jump back at sudden movements or words, gets frightened by loud noises and will cover his ears.
his need for connection is relevant here, too. he has a hard time being alone with himself, and so he finds people to cling to, or finds people that will cling to him, just to stave off those feelings and to ground himself, almost. sometimes it spirals out of control, like with the cult. but his constant need for connection stems from feeling disconnected.
one of his passing comments to luther in s1 (”I remember my first time… oh no. i don’t”) hits hard, too. it’s not uncommon for trauma victims to experience hypersexuality as a result of this loss of autonomy. and then, to not even remember some of these encounters (obviously, the drugs/alcohol likely play a role in this not remembering. but hey, what’s addiction often a symptom of? oh yeah. trauma.)
this disconnect he feels from his own body is also why he was able to have certain encounters even with people he didn’t like. keechie comes to mind. he didn’t like keechie, that was made clear. but it sounds like he still had no problem having sex with him, despite this. it’s common, when you have dissociative symptoms, to feel this sort of disconnect. you don’t always care what happens to a body that doesn’t feel like yours, hell, you can enjoy it, sometimes – even if you don’t like the person you’re doing it with.
it’s why he gets off on torture, too. klaus being a masochist was clearly portrayed in episode four, but then was referenced again two other times. (”if i see a boner, i’m out” when he was being tied up, and, “i’m going to beat you, and not the way you like it.”) when you grow up tortured and become accustomed to it it’s easy for the brain to say “hey, this is unbearable so actually we like this thing now. that’ll make it bearable!” i mean, obviously it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of the situation.
you often find comfort – or even pleasure – in familiarity, even when familiarity isn’t safe. we see that in klaus.
and that leads me back to my main point: klaus searches for answers, he searches for purpose in the same places he lost them. if he can give up his body to anyone who will take it, then maybe he can take back autonomy, is what he might think. if he can have a say in his own destruction, whether it’s addiction or reckless behavior, then maybe he can take back control.
but that’s never truly how it plays out. a trauma survivor will never find what they’re looking for this way. i believe that klaus is starting to realize this, even if he does run into setbacks, and even though he will continue to run into setbacks. if he wants to find control, and if he wants to find purpose, he will have to reroute that energy into a path of recovery rather than destruction. it’s a hard hill to climb, but we know he can do it.
i could say more about this, but i think this says enough, for now.
I’m so happy that a majority of the tua fandom love Viktor Hargreeves. However, seeing the few transphobes that are upset by Viktor’s transition is very funny—especially when they argue that it’s “unrealistic.”
My brothers in christ, this show contains children with super powers, time travel, a talking monkey, a half monkey man, a fucking magical CUBE, and so much more. A trans character is quite literally the most realistic part of this show.
I rewatched S1 and S2 of The Umbrella Academy for the tenth time, and I decided to keep track of how many times the characters said certain words
