I wonder if troll society is a more extreme form of the way men are socialized here- you’re only *supposed* to care about romantic partners. Concern for others might be derisively mocked like men showing soft emotions here. Especially with what we’ve seen in Hiveswap, it feels like there may be a high level of apathy in troll culture. I’d guess that’s a development engineered by the empress: hard to muster enough outrage for a rebellion if no one cares about their neighbors.

asukaskerian:

yeah, they’re very encouraged to toxic rivalry, distrust and only thinking your quadrants and those affecting them (so, quadrant corners, MAYBE) are relevant (THANKS DOC SCRATCH), so i’m really feeling the parallel to toxic masculinity. i mean, vriska and eridan are acting like their behavior is the epitome of a cool, admirable troll. and terezi was destroyed after she killed vriska, even though she felt she wasn’t supposed to be. like. dude. the whole alternia setup is trying its best to create an army, not a coherent people. no intergenerational bonding, and the only parallel bonds allowed are romantic ones and tons of propaganda about their glorious empire. it’s way easier to make people feel like everyone (else) is disposable like that.