#i cannot waaait to finish this chapter because getting back to the archetypes and what they've been up to while raz looks for bobby

[kibasniper111]

rambling about strongman and ambassador under the cut since i'm drafting the next b-movie chapter

i'm really glad i made those archetypes since strongman is who bobby needed to be as a kid (violent, brawny, the king of the castle) while ambassador represents someone he wants to be (still ruthless and confident, but more level-leaded, willing to bend and change, considerate). strongman came from a place of trauma and having enough of his shitty home town and the incident in sasha's lab, a way to no longer be hurt by others if he's strongest and meanest, so strongman is literally strong and mean and cannot change, even as bobby grows up. he still looks like bobby at 12 despite bobby being 18 in b-movie. he's inflexible, but he's scared - he might be strong, but compared to ambassador, he starts to notice that he's not being needed as much when bobby realizes he has archetypes. he's not who bobby needs to be, even when bobby is angry and lashes out. he doesn't want to disappear, doesn't want to be forgotten, so he isn't going to tell bobby his anger and lashing out are wrong. he encourages it, believes it's the right thing to do because he's self-preservation. no one can hurt him. he's going to keep making it, even if he can't see the the depths of the hole bobby dug for himself.

ambassador came from a place of bobby sitting down with chloe and actually designing him (without realizing he was, in fact, making a new archetype pop up in his mind). he has a background that bobby wishes he had. he has a personality that bobby wishes he had. he's bobby's ideal, though at the same time, he's *chloe's ideal.* that distinction is important because bobby started trying to be a better person because of his friendship with chloe, because he believed in her stories about aliens and going to live in space and be among them, to start over. ambassador carries all of the violent horror stories bobby thought of for him, and to him, they are a very real past. he's trying to be better, though, and he's the one willing to tell bobby when he's not acting in the right, but because he, too, is bobby, he can be aggressive and lash out just the same. just like strongman, he's capable of letting his hurt get the best of him. so, even when he's the one bobby needs, and there are times when he can tell bobby stories or calm him down, he'll argue back with bobby. he'll tell bobby he's wrong, and bobby makes him disappear in a burst of paper - scenes that make strongman afraid, because bobby threatens to get rid of him, too. so, when ambassador is locked away for a year, punished for a misconception, he's bitter and vengeful, and he *knows* he should be bobby. he was always bobby, the real bobby, every ounce of self-improvement is because of him.

they're both selfish in their unique ways and blame each other. strongman can be a coward. ambassador can be just as cruel as strongman. bobby is both of them just as they are a part of him, and neither of them could be what bobby needed with "that thing" getting a stronger grasp over bobby as his negative thoughts keep accumulating. no one can self-reflect until it's already too late.

#i cannot waaait to finish this chapter because getting back to the archetypes and what they've been up to while raz looks for bobby #they're both trying! just in the wrong ways - just in ways that are simultaneously self-serving and justified to them #they hate bobby - they hate who he's become! hate that they couldn't stop it! hate that they're really powerless! but they are him!! #so what's better than blaming each other? and when ambassador is locked away it's more fuel to strongman's fire that he's next #bobby's b-movie #strongman #ambassador #bobby