Author Topic: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality  (Read 8843 times)

AnonTheMouse

  • Fresh Meat
  • Posts: 6
    • View Profile
Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« on: August 12, 2015, 06:34:18 pm »
So, after reading the latest comic, I'm only reminded once more how I'm only here for Crest, Bern, and the supporting cast anymore. Any time that May gets brought back, my reaction is pretty much...this.

Don't get me wrong, though. It's not that I don't like Maytag. She's actually the main reason I started reading Flipside. She was an interesting, likeable, and pretty much just overall "cool" character. The recent plotline has destroyed absolutely everything I liked about the character.

More than that, though, it feels like it was done for no good reason, and it doesn't even mesh with the comic's own canon. For instance, Moss. He's cursed to see people's biggest flaws, but he called Maytag out on something she not only doesn't care about, but is doing on purpose and considers a positive trait to have...apparently. We know his curse isn't fake, which means that this unemotional Maytag can't work. Her biggest flaw was that nobody likes the real her, not that she's a slut. Then there's Bern. If she and Maytag are so close, then she should have known about it...and with her personality, there's no way she would have accepted May any more than Crest did...even less so, since she would then know that Maytag's infidelities were a matter of choice. It just does not work from a story standpoint.

It's more than that, though. Early depictions of the "new May" made her look like the medical textbook definition of a psychopath. She came off as manipulative, selfish, and uncaring about others. Since then, it feels like there's been a lot of back-pedalling going on, and it honestly just makes it worse. It rings hollow, and rather than making me feel like there's more to May than I realized, makes me feel like Brion is desperately trying to justify his favourite Mary Sue, when it's already reached the point where, quite frankly, the comic feels for me like it would be infinitely better without her*. First of all, personalities don't friggin' work like that. You don't just decide to be chipper and likeable one day, and suddenly everyone wants to be around you. As someone who had trouble making friends growing up, and tried to "re-invent myself" multiple times, and who took acting lessons for years hoping to do just that, I have to say I don't just find it unrealistic, but insulting on a deeply personal level. It also just reads like a bunch of baloney.

"Oh hey, I know that I said that I was actually a coldly calculating emotionally dead freak who only fakes being happy so people will like me and satisfy my needs, but that isn't true at all! What I meant to say was I used to be like that! But then I realized I really liked how that felt, and so now that's the real me! Or...wait...that didn't come out right either. Can I get a do-over? Can I get infinity do-overs until I say it a way that makes you like me again?" <--- That. That is the feeling I get whenever I read a Maytag chapter anymore...





*On a side note, the entire Dark Cell ark, with its nanotech and all that, is already at Bad Fanfic levels of narrative dissonance to everything else going on. Aside from the fact that I (for one) just literally don't care, because it's trying to explain an aspect of the setting, magic, which did not need an explanation, it makes everything else feel cheesy through the lens of its explanation. Like with May's personality, it's a long con bait-and-switch twist in the story that changes something that originally got me invested into something completely different.

Daisuki-chan

  • Rose Petal Acolyte
  • **
  • Posts: 106
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2015, 08:49:45 pm »
Regarding reinventing oneself to become more likeable, it would probably be easier for a young, very attractive woman such as Maytag than for most people in similar situations. Especially when you're also sexually open to many more people than usual.

bulmabriefs144

  • Kinky
  • ***
  • Posts: 556
  • Wielder of the Sword of Sorrow
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2015, 05:09:45 am »
I actually get that reaction with Crest more. He's shy kid, yet suddenly getting fighting skills he also knows how to talk to girls. He seemed cool when he punched the old man out, yet he's also pretty much the only one that isn't okay with how May is. Crest actually annoys me, because he seems consistent and yet most of what he is rings hypocritical. I'm happiest when he is simply in love with Suspiria as he just goes mushy and the glaring flaws in his personality don't pop out as much.

Actually, that's pretty much the consistent part of her. In fiction, I usually write characters like her (I'm a hobby rpgmaker game director) because I hate the silent hero, but I want a character who can respond to anything however she wants.  I mean, not the whole split personality but the sort of flexible type that is really not defined. Bern is another good choice, since we have the flawed person who does her best to live according to a code of conduct.

When I was growing up, I had alot of her. The deadpan part. We moved several times, my grandma died, and as a result I lost alot of friends in the first few years. I was shy, almost clingy, and then somewhere along the way my emotions just progressively got more detached. I do alot of sort of calm observation, and notice alot of strange things (that I don't comment on, since nobody seems to notice). At my core, well I'm not really sure, but it seems like everyone else seems to have mastered the art of acting normal. I noticed in college, everyone was getting into special courses and seemed to automatically know what to do. I didn't know until near the end of the last year that the teacher they gave us as an advisor (which btw, I swapped for someone I liked simply by going to him instead) was supposed to help us with jobs after college. I had no normal mode, I couldn't act like I fit in. I was a very walled person. My parents didn't want me to be lonely so I was encouraged (pushed, really) to socialize. These separate parts seem like inconsistencies, but from my experience they were facets that developed through socialization. I started out kinda blank, and originally just sat watching stuff while life kinda passed me by. Then I developed a sort of shyness when life got personal, and later learned to act social because "nobody would like the boring deadpan me" is I'm sure what Maytag is thinking.

I'm not sure if Bern even knows about that. Maytag has been intimate, but that's harder to define. Now, as was covered in the Dark Cell, even the deadpan thing is probably a mask. What's behind it? I think I know.

I was working a job at Amazon, which seemed designed to push us to an emotional limit. The first job, picking, was easy. Find boxes of stuff from the shelf, put them on a conveyor, etc. Then after Christmas, they gave me stowing, which I really could not deal with. The shelves were progressively more full because there weren't any pickers to take them, but we somehow had to make space on shelves. And because we kinda had to choose where to put stuff, it kind of touched me on a personal level. I had been looking at this as a huge metaphor for my life, I didn't know how to choose what I wanted, and crap from life just built around me and instead of coping with it normally, I built walls. Pretty much my stowing style, and it wasn't helping that closer examination of the rules they'd given us as stowers basically gave us no options (you can stow a ton into larger places, but the only "right place" is smaller slots, and then they want you to have "bin etiquette" for other people, nevermind that they don't leave any for you), was making it so that I was progressively getting more and more trapped feeling. One day, after suffering through really slow stowing (this was before I was final warned, and just decided to quit), I was asked by our machine's message system to come talk to the local supervisor if I had any "barriers" to my work progress. Pretty much all I had. I talked to the lady told her calmly that I was just having trouble "stowing the big stuff" walked away, and proceeded to burst into tears. Like literally, raw emotion, that I didn't know how to deal with. It struck me that this deadpan "wall" coping mechanism started as a child when I had trouble talking because I'd get emotional and cry and I was told culturally that it's not okay for guys to cry. This day, I was crying not because the job was tough (well, it was, because the shelves were filled to the point of being unworkable), but closer to tears of joy, since this seemed to be a very cold work environment (our work orders were done by computer, there was no personal supervision) and yet through constant supervision by hidden camera, fake workers, etc someone had gotten to know the real me. At least, I think this is why I was crying.

Anyway, to summarize, the mask May has been wearing since birth, she isn't sure what's under it. She fears she is a horrible person. She might be an extremely raw, emotional person without much personality. Or the girl might be wrong, and there might indeed be nothing there beyond the mask. So, basically, not sure if she likes herself (see the bridge scene, where she tells Bern she's manipulated everyone, and that Bern should stay away), she creates alter-egos to hide what she thinks is her true self. That doesn't mean that is her true self, only what Bern can see. And what she can see is what she's needed to do to try to get people to like her.

http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=2251

I think this is closer to the real May, but it'll take her awhile to realize this, based on how she currently considers herself.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2015, 05:41:07 am by bulmabriefs144 »
"この世界の悪があれば本当に、それは人類の心の内にあります."
(Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind)
—Edward D. Morrison

monimoni

  • Collared Pet
  • *
  • Posts: 86
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2015, 01:55:22 pm »
She might have some rejection issues. I also have a hard time buying what she is saying, and I do totally understand the feelings from that point of view, but in the real world you can't just pretend to be someone else. It was clear to me that she might be a psychopath, but we have definitely seen real emotion where she's alone (like in the post above, and some other situations) and capacity to care for others (at least for Bernadette), and also she does not seem malevolent; at least from what I can tell, she at least avoids hurting others. Another thing that comes to mind is the moment after the encounter with Mary, when she wanted to keep her promise, but was then told it's not possible. Or even refusing to cheat on Bern (seriously she could do it - how would Bern know?).

The thing that bugs me is the whole concept of not having a personality and/or being socially impaired ("freaky") while being able to somehow pretend to be someone else easily. This thing with Maytag struck some chord. I definitely know that feeling of complete alienation, observing "normal" people interacting with each other, wondering what the hell it is that is wrong with you. I was also like this when I was younger, and still am actually (mid-twenties even). My mother was annoyed with me because I would embarrass her by, for example, failing to say hello or appearing rude to others. She had to make excuses that I'm just really shy, and later would tell me how in this life you have to be like-able for people to respect you. And unfortunately I found that out myself, but it still seems like for most people it comes naturally, like you don't need someone telling you about it, it's just something you pick up while growing up.
I felt really hollow since childhood, like I don't really want anything, I am not interested in anything, I am nothing... but just trying to go by, going to school, doing this and this and this, because you have to, like everyone else. But you do sort of get better at not giving a **** though, by repeatedly exposing yourself to these things. I really wish I knew how to be someone else, but so far it just got easier to stop caring as much. I really would like it to be so easy to just slip into someone else's skin for some moments.
So this is why I think she's neither a psychopath nor a "freak" like she says. Maybe some other issues.

« Last Edit: August 13, 2015, 02:02:32 pm by monimoni »

bulmabriefs144

  • Kinky
  • ***
  • Posts: 556
  • Wielder of the Sword of Sorrow
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2015, 05:33:32 am »
There are a ton of disorders that are characterized by emotional detachment.

Here's another.

She doesn't go around killing people, which is a good sign. She also shows remorse (schizoids, unlike sociopaths can have real feelings, they just don't know how to show them). She isn't shy, but does tend to be fine by herself. There is also a type of schizoid that makes a social mask (like her) to deal with other people, they're called a covert schizoid. Crazy scary maid lady is a sociopath, May is definitely different.

However, keep in mind that this is a world where there are no psychologists. May has had to manipulate others to survive (the difference is that a sociopath enjoys this), so she thinks she is every bit a monster as the typical violent psycho. Truth is, but for this violent world, she wouldn't hurt a fly, as she wouldn't have to. But it's not about how she actually is, it's about the fear that she might be dangerous. That's Crest's worry too. But that's the point. A true psycho doesn't get worried about that.

I saw a Korean drama last night. I Remember You. It flash-backed to this guy's father working with psychos all day, and seeing that birds and other animals were killed, and seeing the older brother's cold manner, thought that the kid was a psycho in training and tried to spend time with him to prevent this (very misguided). Older brother was actually fine, he just couldn't show emotion. He cared about people, swept the floor for his dad, and did chores, he was just odd. Younger brother pretended to be sweet and innocent, was actually the one killing animals, was the one making disturbing drawings, and the older brother didn't rat him out (a mix of not caring much, and being an older brother). So we flash forward, and someone is committing murders, but you realize by about episode three that the one signing the artwork (with this weird symbol) is the younger brother, the older brother just thinks he's a monster.

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/03/21/covert-schizoid-sexuality-behavioral-patterns/

Notice May's promiscuity? She messed with Bern mainly because they knew each other, and it was a very private thing (until Crest discovered). But she has had a ton of sexual affairs that had no intimacy. Really, Bern is an exception to the normal pattern, but I think this is because she feels she can trust her.

There are some nonviolent sociopaths (the word is sociopath, as in someone "suffering" with Antisocial Personality Disorder; you'll notice I changed it from psychopath, because there is some mix-up between psychotic and psychopathic), but there is a difference between them and May. May has clear things she wouldn't do (she's not a prostitute or murderer), but the defining trait of an antisocial personality is that they do anything to get what they want (watch Confessions of Sociopathic Social Climber, for a good insight on that, she literally does anything to get into a rave, and no conscience ever actually strikes, she just decides she wants a certain guy more). In the nonviolent sphere, think ruthless businessman (who has no qualms about cheating or bribing to get to their career), and there are an awful lot of people in positions of power, especially those with potential for sadism. Usually cops, although this has a comedic spin on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjPjkj_wv9s

May doesn't really seem the type, does she?
« Last Edit: August 14, 2015, 09:46:40 am by bulmabriefs144 »
"この世界の悪があれば本当に、それは人類の心の内にあります."
(Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind)
—Edward D. Morrison

Brion Foulke

  • Administrator
  • Experimental
  • *****
  • Posts: 827
    • AOL Instant Messenger - flipsider99
    • View Profile
    • www.flipsidecomics.com
    • Email
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2015, 12:27:53 am »
Cool, thanks for your honest opinions.  It's totally understandable if Maytag would rub you the wrong way.  I also appreciate that you've been reading carefully since Book 0 and paying attention to things that seem to be contradictions.  Since you posting this, I assume you want some answers, and I do have some to give to you.

Moss sees what *that person* sees as their biggest flaw.  The reason he saw Maytag's biggest flaw as promiscuity is because that was related to her biggest worry at the time: her cheating on Bernadette.  This is a little bit of a cheat, because it's actually the unfaithfulness and not the promiscuity itself that bothers Maytag, but I didn't want to reveal Maytag's relationship with Bernadette at this point.  Let's just say it was Moss's choice to see it as promiscuity, since he basically lives to insult people and calling her a slut seemed like the sharper insult.

So, just to clarify, at that time Maytag's complicated identity was not her biggest worry at the time.  If he were to look at her again now, he could very well see something different, because of recent events in the story.  The whole concept of "a person's biggest weakness" is really just about their insecurities, and those can change.

As for Bernadette, you are absolutely right that she knows about it.  You can surmise this based on chapter 11 and the glimpse you get into their first meeting.  Maytag and Bernadette's relationship is unique in that Bernadette is one of the few people that Maytag has been *completely* open with, from the beginning.  In chapter 11, it was stated that Maytag met Bernadette on the night she was just broken up with, so she was at a low point and was feeling self destructive.  Because of this, she was brutally honest with Bernadette, with the expectation that Bernadette would hate her.  But the opposite happened.  Although this hasn't been explicitly states in the comic yet (it will be in this chapter) I think it is implied, so you may already have had a sense of that.

As for why Bernadette still likes her: well, it makes sense to me.  There's a lot I could say about that.  One thing I'll point out is that Maytag was honest with Bernadette from the beginning, unlike with Crest.  This is also partially Crest's fault because he started out idolizing a person that he didn't know, building up his own image of that person in his mind.  Then we he met her the reality was different.  THEN when she suddenly revealed some big secrets, reality changed even more, so at this point she's probably shifted completely away from his initial image of her.  Bernadette, on the other hand, was exposed to the true Maytag from the very beginning.

As for Maytag being a psychopath, she is not.  She has real feelings for other people, and always has.  She is just very different from other people.

You're right that personalities generally don't work like that, but in this case Maytag was very young when she started, and her own personality was still developing.  Your personality is influenced a lot by the people you are around.  So, you might say that Maytag, from the moment she was abandoned by her mother and struck out on her own, started to slowly acquire the personalities of the people around her and shape it into her own.  This is actually not as fantastical as it sounds, in my opinion, because Maytag was still so young at the time, and because she thrust herself into a lot of social situations.  Also, she probably wasn't very good at being a likable person at first, and gradually became better at it over a few years.

As for the nano-tech, you're right that magic normally doesn't need an explanation.  The appeal of magic is it's mysterious nature.  But in this particular case, I think the so-called "explanation" of magic you are getting doesn't solve any mysteries, and rather just creates new ones.  So although this seems like a similar problem to midichlorians, I personally don't think it is.

Well, you're right that I like to pull long cons with the story.  (I have a few more up my sleeve as well.)  Messing with the expectations of your readers can be dangerous.  But I'd honestly rather be dangerous than safe, cause that's the type of story I'd rather like to read.  That's just me.

bulmabriefs144

  • Kinky
  • ***
  • Posts: 556
  • Wielder of the Sword of Sorrow
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #6 on: August 15, 2015, 04:00:23 am »
Something occurred to me.

Well two things. What's really behind the mask, I think I know what it is (but I won't spoil, i'll ask Brion by PM).

But also, before Lehm wipes her memory, and sends her on her way.  There's a reason started with six steps and now can't even  make any progress. She thinks keeping up her mask will protect her, and from alot of interpersonal stuff it will, along with her Acceptance Technique. However, this is something wild and primal, leading to my second thought.

Maytag should ask Why is Maytag a Candidate for the Dark Cell?

And I think the picture it will show will be her leaving her masks on the ground to enter the cell. Her biggest fear is actually showing what is behind the mask. That's exactly what she needs to face to move into the cell.
"この世界の悪があれば本当に、それは人類の心の内にあります."
(Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind)
—Edward D. Morrison

maddhopps

  • Slave Groupie
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2015, 10:09:15 am »
I started this post last night and was going wait to fix it up a bit, but it is pretty much  is a lot of what Brion posted so I'll just post it now, even thoguh it is a bit of a mess.

I personally don't like getting into diagnosing characters so I'll just talk about what I disagree with as far as the narrative is concerned.

 Moss saw Maytag's promiscuity as a weakness at a time where he didn't have the context of it relating to Bern, so he assumed it was the promiscuity itself and not that it related to infidelity.  Also remember that at the time Maytag believed that her and Bernadette relationship was inevitably going to fail, because she was struggling with desperately wanting to stay together with Bern and also staying true to herself. I would say that at the time that probably did feel like the biggest weakness for Maytag.

We know Bernadette knows about the personality thing because of this page: http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=1459
 
It was basically the first thing May told her: http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=412

Not to mention that the way Bern describes May back then includes almost all of personality traits May is talking about currently:  http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=415

The story went over the cheating thing. The reason Bern was hurt, but not too angry over it because she accepted from the start that a relationship with May would likely include being cheated on at least for a period of time. She was able to brace herself for it to an extent and she was willing to justify it for May using ?just a phase? reasoning.

bulmabriefs144

  • Kinky
  • ***
  • Posts: 556
  • Wielder of the Sword of Sorrow
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2015, 04:46:28 pm »
I started this post last night and was going wait to fix it up a bit, but it is pretty much  is a lot of what Brion posted so I'll just post it now, even thoguh it is a bit of a mess.

I personally don't like getting into diagnosing characters so I'll just talk about what I disagree with as far as the narrative is concerned.

 Moss saw Maytag's promiscuity as a weakness at a time where he didn't have the context of it relating to Bern, so he assumed it was the promiscuity itself and not that it related to infidelity.  Also remember that at the time Maytag believed that her and Bernadette relationship was inevitably going to fail, because she was struggling with desperately wanting to stay together with Bern and also staying true to herself. I would say that at the time that probably did feel like the biggest weakness for Maytag.

We know Bernadette knows about the personality thing because of this page: http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=1459
 
It was basically the first thing May told her: http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=412

Not to mention that the way Bern describes May back then includes almost all of personality traits May is talking about currently:  http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=415

The story went over the cheating thing. The reason Bern was hurt, but not too angry over it because she accepted from the start that a relationship with May would likely include being cheated on at least for a period of time. She was able to brace herself for it to an extent and she was willing to justify it for May using ?just a phase? reasoning.

Still doesn't sound like psychopathy/sociopathy guys. What psycho sits in bed crying? What psycho worries they manipulate others, or calls themselves "selfish and cold" (there are disorders that make you come across that way besides what she thinks)? What psycho begins with pushing someone away (they usually try to attract you so they can hurt you)? And why start with first impression of morose.

In terms of effervescent and bubbly, ummm there is this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder
Just to name one other issue.

To say nothing of that fact that Covert Schizoid explains bother her infidelity (desire for lack of intimacy, so she self-sabotages) and her outgoing mask (a schizoid is outgoing because they like the idea of friends, but they hate intimacy, so it's a shallow extroversion). Or for that matter, Borderline Personality Disorder has rocky relationship issues (cheating, etc) and they generally are moody.

I guess, we can all decide she's a psycho, but Brion said there's another explanation, so let's wait and see what it is.
"この世界の悪があれば本当に、それは人類の心の内にあります."
(Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind)
—Edward D. Morrison

AnonTheMouse

  • Fresh Meat
  • Posts: 6
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #9 on: August 19, 2015, 04:35:19 am »
So although this seems like a similar problem to midichlorians, I personally don't think it is.

For most of it, I guess I'll just have to say that my feelings very strongly align with Crest's and leave it at that. For this though... Well, for me it's not like midichlorians, and that's actually the problem. Some people might not have liked them, but they were consistent to the setting. It was sci-fi, and they were an at least a pseudo-scientific explanation, rather than it just being "space magic".

Personally, I liken the nanotech here more to Planet Zeist. All through the first part of the Highlander story, the fantastical elements seemed fully fantasy, and followed fantasy conventions, like the rules about holy ground. Then they introduce Planet Zeist, and it's inclusion forces a complete genre shift, as well as making little to no sense within the context of the existing story, and requiring illogical retcons (e.g. "Why can Immortals sense when they're on holy ground if there's nothing special about it, and the rule is completely informal?"). The inclusion was generally considered poorly conceived, and it was later retconned out.

bulmabriefs144

  • Kinky
  • ***
  • Posts: 556
  • Wielder of the Sword of Sorrow
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #10 on: August 19, 2015, 03:00:14 pm »
I actually drew an interesting parallel on the discussion of how "magic does not exist" and how our own society put such strong faith in the scientific world.

As in, we are basically minds and energy, since energy is matter (squared at the speed of light, according to Einstein) this means that while we think stuff like cell phones are real, the technology could actually be seen as just an extension of ourselves. They're only real in that the concepts come from ideas of ours. But the actual process is very similar to a magician's trick.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/2014/11/21/technology-is-just-an-engineered-illusion-digital-magician-marco-tempest-says/
"この世界の悪があれば本当に、それは人類の心の内にあります."
(Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind)
—Edward D. Morrison

maddhopps

  • Slave Groupie
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2015, 04:52:23 pm »
I don't see how I implied anywhere in that post that Maytag was a psychopath. Like I said I don't like getting into diagnosing characters, partly because I feel labels like “psychopath” or “sociopath” are too easily attached to characters/people that have any social anxieties or communication problems outside the norm.

I think that the main thing that makes May hard to figure out is that she seems to give in to her emotions, while also seeming to have the ability to literally control them.  May broke down when it seemed like Bernadette was going die to Mary's poison, but earlier in the story May was willing to kill Bern, because logic dictated that it was better to kill her herself rather then for Bern to be tortured and killed. She can decide that getting eaten alive wasn't going bother her anymore, but a friend being upset with her is something she can carry for a while.  I mean Maytag's control over her emotion has allowed to breakout of the control of a demon that caused paralyzing fear and an aphrodisiac that caused overwhelming lust. I don't think May is every devoid of emotion, she can just control it on a level that no one else can and let logic dictate her decisions at a given moment. Of course there is also the issue that Maytag's logic set probably differs from most.

For most of it, I guess I'll just have to say that my feelings very strongly align with Crest's and leave it at that.
Well part of the reason that Crest started to travel with Maytag and Bern was because he thought they would eventually split up and that he would be there to "pick up the pieces" with May, so it's not like he has been entirely forth coming in their relationship.

bulmabriefs144

  • Kinky
  • ***
  • Posts: 556
  • Wielder of the Sword of Sorrow
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2015, 04:11:50 am »
All of us have control of our emotions. We have the ability to, when someone tries to make us angry (say a troll trying to push us into being banned), instead decide "nope! I'm gonna grin and bear it". What you are seeing from May isn't control over emotions though, so much as a collection of personas, and fine control over pain (that technique). May very much can't get manipulated by anyone but the best, not because she hasn't emotions or controls them, but because she doesn't let them control her.  If she sees someone using the carrot and stick approach she can just calmly walk away if she decides what she wants isn't really what she wants.

That said, people need people, and May is willing to do crazy things for Bern. Maybe not you but alot of people misread this as psycho behavior because it just seemed so out there.

Have I mentioned how I like Crest the least of the main characters? He was cool mainly when he punched out that old guy. Then he does about as bad to May when she opens up on stage. That's exactly the reason crest is wrong about the two. They'll have troubles, yes, but at the core, May opened up completely to Bern and she didn't reject her. That's the basis of their relationship. And Crest can't do that. This is why May is willing to do crazy things, because she loves Bern. Cold as she is, cutting hands up is no big deal to her, if it saves someone she cares for.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2015, 04:26:27 am by bulmabriefs144 »
"この世界の悪があれば本当に、それは人類の心の内にあります."
(Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies within the heart of mankind)
—Edward D. Morrison

Desiree

  • Fresh Meat
  • Posts: 6
    • View Profile
Re: Maytag's (Completely Inconsistant) Personality
« Reply #13 on: November 15, 2015, 03:19:28 pm »
First of all, personalities don't friggin' work like that. You don't just decide to be chipper and likeable one day, and suddenly everyone wants to be around you. As someone who had trouble making friends growing up, and tried to "re-invent myself" multiple times, and who took acting lessons for years hoping to do just that, I have to say I don't just find it unrealistic, but insulting on a deeply personal level. It also just reads like a bunch of baloney.

I'm sorry that didn't work out for you, but I find Maytag's reinventing of herself entirely realistic because I did exactly the same thing she did, except without the split persona.  During high-school, I was a shy loner.  However, my senior year, I decided I was sick of myself and re-invented myself.  Of course, in high school, no one bought it, but then I went to college where I had no previous baseline and I was much more able to fake my new personality there.  I was fun, friendly, and outgoing - and it made my upset and nervous and it was really, really hard at first.  It took four years playing my new personality before I realized that, at some point during those four years, I'd stopped playing the part and was now living the part.

In high-school, I couldn't handle talking in front of a class.  I now publicly speak for a living.  It took five years, but I changed my personality by the same method Maytag did.  It is possible.