Umbrella Academy - In Defense Of Luther 

Would you hug Luther?

When I heard Luther was getting hate and saw people in tumblr calling him problematic I got so confused... Like, the point of the show is they're all dysfunctional?? Traumatic childhood effected them all differently and they all have their own ways to cope, and Luther's way was to develop stockholm syndrome-like respect for his father. Honestly I found him interesting as a character and I don't get the hate at all, his relationship with Allison is a bit icky for me but then again, we're talking about dysfunctional people who are trying to find ways to cope so I don't think it's too weird or out of place in the story.

I love Luther and hate how much the fandom treats him. He was abused just as badly as the rest of the seven and people need to remember that

And I thought I was the only one who actually kinda liked Luther thank god.

I honestly was so sad getting into this fandom and finding all the Luther bashing. I really liked him as a character and i was really looking forward to finding Luther centric angst fics I would say this really reminds me of all the Ron Weasely bashing that happened post GoF.

I liked Luther from the start. Partly because I knew the actor portraying Luther from a different series. But also because I completely understood his feelings towards his sibling. I'm the second eldest child in a family of eight. And I always had to take care of them, look out for them and even protect them. Even for my older sister because she has autism. I think it was very clear that Luther has suffered just as much if not even more at the hands of their father as his siblings. They all tried dealing with it in different ways. Luther's way was just very different from the rest. He actually wasn't able to deal with it until his father's death. Whilst all the rest had the time to try when they left the house. What they have gone through, trying to break away from their father and becoming more themselves, is what Luther is going through during the series events. All the time before he was still in his father's grasp. The other thing is that he is just human and indeed not comfortable in his skin. He makes mistakes like we all do. And some of them are really stupid. Be it's clear that he makes those with the best intentions. And I like that about him. They all are not perfect. And it just takes time to try and see ones own mistakes and set them really right. Luther just has the misfortune of being a character with certain physical trades that have become less popular, has a romantic involvement that can be deemed inappropriate and on top of that has to sort of take up the role of being the "bad guy" amongst the siblings. So yeah, I agree we should give him some love. I think he is a sweetheart and can grow a lot during the coming series. He has potential to learn from mistakes and he just really honestly wants what is best for everyone!

The one problem i have with Luther is not with Luther himself but rather how his issues got written into the show, since it is really easy to overlook the obvious damage he got from his upbringing. I don't mind the character i just don't think the show handled him perfect

I was literally just ranting to my friend about this earlier today. Luther really isn’t THAT bad and should deserve a chance to redeem himself. All of them were damaged by their father, and while Luther’s actions are entirely his own choices, Reginald does have an effect on them because of how they were raised and mistreated. All of them have their own problems and I think that it is completely unfair to accuse Luther of being an absolute terrible person and to think that he doesn’t love his siblings. And yes I would hug Luther. I would hug pretty much any character except Reginald, The Handler, and Cha-Cha. I will say though that I am definitely still saving memes about “The Moon”

i personally have the very 'mainstream' taste in umbrella academy characters, and don't like luther, but i don't want to bash anyone for liking him in any way. like whoever you want to like!

I wasnt a fan of Luther but I did start to grow on him after the rave. I feel that if they focused on his individual growth rather than Allison relationship, he would maybe more liked. Compare to Klaus and Number 5 anyone is "boring" those two stole the show for me. Hope if there is a season two they would focus on this.

I was someone who disliked Luther, but this video made me change my opinion slightly - I think the guy deserves a hug. His decision with Vanya was still so stupid! But really, he was just trying his best to do what he thought was right and he had been through a lot in the past few days. My favourite character isn't Klaus either - it's Five! I love him and his crazy ways. Awesome video as always, looking forward to the next one!

I honestly love Luther, and when I saw all the hate and the reasons for it I was really confused, like ok, what he did to Vanya was awful, but didn't the others (except maybe Klaus and later Allison) also treat Vanya badly? All of them were abused in diferent ways, even Luther. It's really sad the level of bashing this fandom has against him, even in the "Luther friendly" tag in tumblr, a tag for people who DO like Luther, you see people posting rants and a lot of other things. The constant hate was one of the reasons I left the fandom, it really ruins the experience.

As someone who connected with Luther when I first watched the show I get a knot in my stomach when I see people in the fandom hating on him. I felt sick when I saw that someone had written -"I hope we get normal Luther next season. I dont want to see his discusting monkeybody again". It felt like getting slapped in the face. I've almost given up on this fandom and then I see the good parts and I cant leave. I identified with Luther and Klaus the most and I love them equally. The other five siblings have my love too

I would hug Luther, he's really big so I think it would be awesome. But he is kind of an butthead.

I actully like luther; he represents the innocence of somebody who never had to grow up completly (like diego said, luther doesnt know what its like to have a job). There is that scne where luther ride a bike and drinks the milk; very child like behavior.

I actually really like Luther and try to stay away from Luther bashing in my own fics (tho I enjoy reading it once in a while). I think that his character is very interesting and should be further explored. Though he is far from being my fave on the show, I really like his awkwardness and that he clearly has no idea how to behave around his siblings or even be a proper leader. I think of all the kids he might actually be the one who is truly lost in a way because he never quite learned to be his own person - that he is now part ape clearly does not help.

When I think of fandom I think of a good and fun time not of negativity or toxicity. That's why whenever I see character bashing my heart breaks a little. Frankly I am here for interesting concepts, fix its and just a positive experience in general. For example when I scroll through the IronStrange tag on AO3 I often come across fanfics with the "not team cap friendly" or "not Steve Rogers friendly" tag and that just makes me sad, because I think especially in the MCU many characters are working through some issues and it just does not feel right to belittle those and just look at the negative things they have done. Characters are complex... not one dimensional. (also I just love every character in the mcu... can't we all just get along jeez) Concerning Luther I have to admit, I don't like him very much, but I can see his struggles and I myself could never bash someone who is clearly just as traumatised as my favourite character..

I love Luther, they done my boy so dirty

I didn't like Luther at all while watching the series, but I still found his actions comprehensible. And when I entered the fandom, the very contrary part of myself decided that with all that Luther Hate going around, I would like him out of spite. And now I kind of do? He is an awfully interesting character and the way his trauma affects him is in no way less real than for any of his siblings. Four years on the moon in constant isolation? That is traumatizing. And it will probably lead to a decrease in emotional intelligence. That doesn't excuse any of his actions but it explains them. And let's be honest for a moment: Every other character fucks up because of their trauma, too. And why is it an excuse when Klaus or Vanya do something horrible? But not when Luther does it? (And I do love all of them. The only character to really hate and blame Sir Reginald. It is kind of sad that people hate Luther more...)

I honestly think that if Luther just slowed down and listened a tiny bit more, he wouldn't have done half the things that were damaging to the others

LET 👏 ME 👏 HUG 👏 THE 👏 BOY 👏 edit: few minutes into the video and i realized i do have a pattern of loving characters who are "pedantic & overbearing but secretly insecure" and have an awkward side. 😂 ANYWAY I LOVE MY BOY 💕💖💗💕

Personally, I do not despise Luther, in fact I can synthesize with him because I had once a faced an abuse in my life that forced me----as the oldest----to protect my younger family. The reasons why I do not like him is because of the overall dismissal of his siblings opinions and emotions. How in the first family meeting he basically tried to force Klaus to summon their decease father despite the fact Klaus said he wasn't able to. Another problem I had with Luther was how he allowed his "love" for Allison cloud his judgement and once again decided not listen to his siblings, despite protests of the decision of locking Vanya away. Who was just scared after gaining her powers, which she had little control over. Overall, I just hated his lack of communication with his siblings.

I don’t dislike Luther, and found that his discussion at the end was a natural choice (although a wrong one)of a man who’d lost all purpose and just wants to protect his family (although I really didn’t like his relationship with Allison- but this might be because I don’t particularly enjoy either of the characters) I identified with the other characters more, (except Allison, Luther or Diego). I think this is because, to me anyway, the other three had storylines that either 1) was a lot more realistic 2) so extraordinary out of realism I enjoyed it (number 5) The other three characters struggled with issues that weren’t really realistic, to me, but weren’t unrealistic enough for me to enjoy it. Maybe that’s just me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Before season two of Stranger Things came out, everyone hated Steve. Now, everyone loves him. I always liked Steve, and now I like Luther. I see a lot of similarities in these characters. People say that Steve's character changed drastically from the first season to the second season, but I disagree. He was never a bad person, he just had come bad friends. His idea of throwing a party when his parents are out of town was inviting over his closest friends, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's friend. What a rebel. I think we just say more of his character in different situations, and that made people realize that he is a good person. However, people were so adamant that he was a terrible person, and couldn't reconcile it with their new perspective, that they claim he changed. If season two of the Umbrella Academy comes out, and they do a good job with showing more of the soft side of Luther, I think the same thing will happen to him.

While I did find Luther a little under explored, I think a good job was done making him an eldest sibling archetype. I'm the eldest of 7 and I basically coparented my siblings. I can relate to Luther feeling like he should not only take charge, but take the brunt of the punishment for failure. I think the show might have done better if they showed him as a kid separate from his romance. Show what was expected of him and how he succeeded/failed.

I love Luther and Klaus but I do find it annoying the constant Luther bashing and then the millions of fic’s about Klaus. I don’t really have a problem with it in all honesty, everyone can do what they want to do, fanfic is a free, non judgmental space. I just wish we could have more of a balance. I also with that the fandom wasn’t split between people who hate Luther and love Vanya and people who hate Vanya and love Luther, I wish people would look at the characters in more depth and try to understand them before making their judgements.

I remember being in the Naruto fandom years ago (the early 2000s) and there was a HUGE amount of character bashing for almost all the female characters, but mainly for Sakura who I think was a victim of being poorly written and portrayed by male creators, hence the hate and criticism was directed towards the character rather than the creators (not advocating sending hate to creators btw). Admittedly, I thought character bashing was a thing of the past, like gender switching. However, looking at it now having experienced more recently the toxic fandom of Voltron I can actually see that we still have the old ways but maybe it's not verbally recognised for what it is and is classed as just anti or toxic fandom behaviour. Books, comics, films, TV shows, etc they are all a product of art and therefore are up for interpretation - that is what art is - so that does mean that we won't all agree and like the same characters, which is okay. However, when fandom adopts this strange moral high ground/gatekeeping that's when the trouble really begins. Fandom is an escape from our everyday worlds and people should feel safe or at least comfortable enough that they won't be attacked for what they prefer. This is where tagging is a beautiful thing and people must wholeheartedly embrace it so that everyone can have their own fandom space.

Also, I have found myself in the camp of absolutely loving a character everyone hated. I actually loved Bakugou since ch 11. I related so hard to his anger issues and insecurity. The story explored him the way I expected so people came around years later. But I've loved him since ch 11. I was there by myself.

I don't particularly like Luther, due to his actions towards the end of the series, but I can't bring myself to hate him either. He's as much of a victim of bad parenting as the rest of them. Besides, the other siblings can't really be considered angels either. Ben, Vanya, and (maybe) Klaus are the only ones I would consider blameless.

It's kinda annoying how this fandom treats all the other siblings like "they're victims, so their trauma is valid and their actions are ok" but when Luther does anything it's like "he didn't go through anything compared to the others and he's irredeemable". Look I don't wanna excuse his actions either, but literally all of them made me mad at one point or another. It was season 1, the characters weren't SUPPOSED to be well developed yet.

Woah, this video brought out soooo many feelings about Character Bashing. It's the reason I had to stop reading cannon focused MCU fics after Civil War. MCU fan fiction used to be my absolute favourites to read. I loved seeing people's interpretation of the story and hypothesizing what would come next in the world. Some of the most interesting and creative works I've ever read came from this fandom community. After Civil War came out I began seeing toxicity brew in fics. Before then I'd only ever experienced fandom toxicity through wank posts on tumblr, but more and more writers were employing grossly exaggerated depictions of either Steve or Tony's 'sides' in the movie to prove one of them was ultimately right. Not only were these fics not fun there seemed to be a lot a judgement steeped into their narratives. Tags and author notes would insinuate anyone who chose the "wrong side" was dumb or a bad person. Since then I've encounter a lot more bashing fics in other fandoms. I joined the Harry Potter fanfic community last year and discovered hundreds of fics dedicated to bashing just about anyone: from Dumbledore, to the Weasleys, to Harry himself. I never find fics with bashing in them to be fun to read. Overtly villainizing a nuanced character to make your fave look good or to mock people who like them is so not okay. Thank you for making this video and allowing me to rant in your comments section for a bit. I NEEDED to get that off my chest. Keep up the good work.

YEEES!!! THIS! all the luther hate really gets me down >~< he was never my favorite, but he doesnt deserve all this!

I don't _hate_ Luther but I don't really like him that much. at first I found him arrogant and controlling not caring about what is siblings want and using the fact that he is number 1 as an excuse for all of his actions, hardly ever listening to the reasoning of his siblings, not even the one he claims to care for the most (Allison). I feel that he has his flaws, but so do the other characters. I think we just need his character to be fleshed out more. I never really had that much of a strong attachment to him, and he did some bad things, all I can say is that a redemption arc is definitely needed for him. And I do agree that fandom should never be a bashing space, people all like different things, if you don't agree with someone, the best things to do are to try and have a civil conversation with them, or just ignore it and move on. Also, the red aesthetic really works for you, slay queen

Originally I thought I would really like Luther, because y'know he lived on the moon and space is cool, plus the lil dance scene in episode one was super cute. Unfortunately, his choices and actions throughout the rest of the show really put me off his character :(

I recently watched the show, binged it really, and Luther seemed fine to me. I didn't hate him and felt for him at times. There was just one thing I didn't like...I'm sure we can all tell what that was.

Here’s my opinion on the whole thing: I’m not a Luther fan, I was pretty neutral about him up until the Vanya incident, where I started to dislike him. However, I do think that he’s an intriguing character and found how his father forced him to be the leader of the group interesting, how it shaped him as a character that has a hard time listening to what anyone else says or suggests. I don’t like him at the moment but I don’t think that he’s irredeemable. That being said, I wouldn’t really hug him, wouldn’t want to end up in a soundproof room.

Great video!!! Luther is a complex character. I hope people see that more in the 2nd season. Or not up to them! But this fandom NEEDS to stop fighting! Thanks for the vid!

I would hug Luther, if only because...he's trying. He doesn't have a clue how people work, yet he does his best to help his family. So, when he breaks, and he's just happy in the club, you're just happy...that *he's* happy.

Luther is more damage and has more traumas, he is a good guy, sometimes he does not know how to react to some things. Remember all his siblings left, he did not, he stayed and suffered from that accident and then they sent him to the moon. Not only he stay in the house alone for a few years, but he was also alone on the moon for 4 years.

Dude I would Yeet myself at Luther cause I know that for one, he needs a hug And two, I know he would catch me XDXD

10:30 agreed! 10:45 I'm not a Luther stan per-say, but I do believe the amount of hate he gets is far too aggressive. Especially when all of the siblings were given negative traits, but people still let those slide due to them being more... charismatic and funny I suppose. It's just a bit hypocritical in my opinion. 10:46 The only part of fandom that I participate in (for Umbrella Academy) is the fanart side, and so far it's been pretty good... like, really good. Idk if it's just me, but I've only ever seen absolute works of art for this show, it's really impressive.

Characters that I love but others hate: Dawn Summers (BTVS) Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) Elena Gilbert (TVD)

Luther is one of my top favs, i absolutely love him, my lil bb

Oooh, I was SO excited to have this jump up in my feed this morning! I usually go into your vids 100% in agreement with whatever ship or concept you're about to break down, so for me, as someone who really, really, really, really, REALLY dislikes Luther, I was so excited to get the opportunity to put your neutrality and level-headed discussion powers to good use for the first time on myself. Even though I'm walking away from this video still feeling a loathing of Luther deep in my bones (the thing he did to Vanya, you know the one, can never be forgiven for me) I really appreciated hearing the logic behind why people do relate to the character and why he does resonate with some people, and inspire sympathy from some people. I was just having the thought the other day that likely I find Luther's character so unpalatable because he hasn't really begun his journey of personal growth the way the others have. It's why Vanya and Diego also fell a bit flat to me, but why I especially love Klaus and Allison. I wonder how much my opinion of Luther would be different if he were already on that road to healing when we first meet him. Also, I find it a shame fandom seems to promote a lot of vitriolic character bashing as a way to work through a character they don't like, and that there's less of a culture of, like, negative character studies... if that makes sense. Like, a piece written with care and love that actually takes a deep dive into why the character is the way they are, not to makes them more sympathetic or likeable, but just to explore those negatives. I've always read Luther's role in the series to be, not the antagonist, but an antagonistic force. I'd love to see fics that don't necessarily hate on him in a bashing sense, but that really explore that antagonism and friction he brings to the Hargreeves family dynamic. Thanks so much for the video! It was a refreshing take on a much-maligned character, and I enjoyed spending this time with this community flexing my critical thinking muscles!

I started the series firmly in the Luther, Meh, camp, but have since come around to “stop bashing my boy”! The more I see of the effed up family dynamic the more I understand his drive to be the “ perfect son and group leader” in an effort to get some approval from his cold and distant “ father”. His whole self image hinges on fulfilling this role the Monocle laid upon him as a way to control not only him but the rest of the kids thru him. I see Luther trying to become more self aware, * the scene with Diego saying “ maybe it’s not why WE left, it’s why YOU stayed” is a good example of others becoming aware of his messed up thinking.

Oh goodie! I've been dying to dump my thoughts on Luther. Until what he did to Vanya, he was actually one of my favourite characters, and imo one of the most sympathetic. My top 3 were Klaus, Luther and Diego. I found his story of how he was brainwashed by their "dad" so utterly heartbreaking. I really really liked him. But when he did that to Vanya? My empathy took a break. It might have been better if it came to a split vote, but he was the ONLY one to be so cruel to Vanya.

Whenever I see Tom Hopper in this role as Luther.. Im thinking about another series where a similar character has an ailment where his eyes water constantly.. And I cant remember where thats from.. Its driving me insane, ive been thinking about this for the past 30 minutes..

I like Luther because I know what it's like to be molded into something that someone wanted but it wasn't quite what they imagined so they cast you away

i'm going to write a fic where luther builds that lego rocket ship just because

I rather liked Luthor. He's not my favorite, but hes got a lot of potential to grow from the harsh and narrow definition of a leader into a leader who is more open and healthy. His story is one of realizing his identity is not tied to the approval of others or to his deeds, and that's one I relate to. Something my friends and I were talking about with his reaction to vanya was that after he went upstairs any one could have gotten her out, but they all kinda left her. I think all of them have flaws, and some are more palatable to people than others, but I will stand by the fact that Luthor Is no worse than anybody on the show. I actually really like messed up characters. Proof you can be a good person and still have baggage. I tend to gravitate towards less popular characters, but the last time I had a least favorite character everyone loved was Lance from Voltron. Ugh. I didn't even mind him until people made it a big deal and started attacking any character who had an arc outside and Lance and made him ubiquitous and inescapable in fandom. My condolences to anyone going through that with Klaus right now.

I like Luther, though I think his character needs some work next season. Hopefully he'll work on his leadership and listening skills.

I think what really offended me about luther was just the fake hug. Dont mess with my hugs. Never really hated him, but like. I thought I was getting a wholesome momment and gr betrayed me.

Thank-you for making this. I got wind of how hated he was before I finished the series and so I was waiting for him to give me a reason to but it just never happened. I love him as much as the others if not more.

11:11 tea. 11:20 TEA.

There was once a time in the Code Geass fandom /which, I am a member of, obviously/ where everyone hated Suzaku /the deuteragonist of the series/ and I just couldn't understand why for the longest time, because I really loved his character /I still do/ sure, he is a bit hypocritical and all, but aren't we all on occasion? I was once bashed for liking him and as a kid, it hurt, to be honest. Thank god, the bashing of his character has stopped, for the most part. In conclusion, people shouldn't just bash characters, but get to maybe know them a little? maybe if they did, they would soften up to them and perhaps even relate to them in some way Also, I would literally hug almost anyone, just sayin' I love cuddles and hugs.

I'm reminded of the anime Naruto. The main guy was presented as a dumb cheeky prankster, but in truth he just feels lonely. At that time, people hated him and favored his rival Sasuke. They bashed him for being silly or not serious. But as time went on he matures bit by bit, but still retains some of his slap stick moments (mostly prominent in filler arcs). And by the end of the series, the fandom love him, and gets a happy ending. Though the sequel about his son, Boruto, feels like history repeats it's self and bashing on him cause he isn't Naruto, he is arrogant, and hate his dad mostly cause his busy being a Hokage (equivalent to president, but for ninjas). They forget that despite his flaws, he value his friends, and family, he tries to do what is right despite some of the time he comes out short. It's basically the same for Arthur of Umbrella Acadrmy, the story is just starting and they should observe first and wait for the chatacters to develop more.

I have a lot to say about this... Firstly, great video, you are absolutely right. No one should judged for liking/disliking a character. I’ve only just started watching Umbrella Academy, and so far... I don’t really like any of them? Te show is good but they are very dysfunctional. Although I’m only on episode 5, I don’t see myself disliking Luther anymore than any of the other characters. They all so messed up. Personally, I actually really dislike character bashing as a concept. Some people really connect with those characters and see themselves in them, so it can be damaging to see everyone hating on a quality that you might have. My first example of this is Ozpin, from RWBY. He gets a lot of hate from the fandom, mostly because he kept secrets from the main characters of the show. However, a lot of those secrets were very personal to him, and involved his ex-wife murdering his children. In any case, he is my favourite character, and I think it can be damaging when people say things like “It wasn’t real abuse” when he was so scared of his ex-wife that he tried to run away in the middle of the night. I’m not saying that all of the hate he gets is unjustified, but a lot of it is unnecessary, and I worry that it may hurt someone who is in a real abusive relationship, or someone who has past trauma and is hiding it from their friends. Another example of this Snape, from Harry Potter. Granted, Snape was not a nice person, but I still think a lot of people take it too far. I’ve seen comments saying things like “he wasn’t really bullied”. Again, this is damaging because it’s dismissing bullying and saying that it’s no big deal. No one should ever be bullied, no matter how much of a d**che they might be. Honestly, I don’t understand why people feel the need to character bash. I really dislike Peter Quill from marvel, but I don’t feel the need to write long essays about why he’s a horrible character? I just filter out works tagged with him, and look at stuff I do enjoy. One last point, where character bashing gets really annoying is when people don’t tag bashing properly. I was reading this adorable RWBY fanfic about two characters called Mercury and Emerald getting a redemption arc, and then bam! Ozpin starts torturing them for information. And it’s treated like that’s totally normal thing for him to do, and that’s why everyone hates him. If your gonna write my favourite character as a villain, please tag it. People can wrote what they like, but it needs to be tagged properly.

overall, i think all of the characters in the show are really compelling and interesting, which is what makes a "good" character, imo. all of them did things i didn't like. all of them made mistakes, fucked up, were jerks, etc. at some point in the show. it's basically the tag line of the show: Super. Dysfunctional. my opinion of luther, specifically, though was that he was really compelling. i could relate to somethings about his character, and others parts i could sympathize with. i was upset when he fucked up or was a jerk, but i was upset when the others were those things, too, so it wasn't isolated to just his character. i agree with all you said about him! i think there's so much there, and he deserves more sympathy than he gets:( ppl can like/dislike what they want, but the amount of luther hate in fandom is honestly kinda appalling... but not overall surprising. as for your last question: i've definitely been on the opposite end of the spectrum, where i really didn't like a character that everyone else seemed to love, several times. so what did i do each time? avoided content for that character and largely kept my negative opinions to myself. i'd talk to ppl privately sometimes, but that was rare. why dwell on something you don't like and that upsets you when there's literally no need for it?

I can deeply relate to how he feels not at home in his own flesh

I don't like Luther, as a person, i do however have sympathy for him. There is a lot to dislike about all the characters. None of them are perfect, and I definitely think that was the point. All of them are trauma victims of their father in one way or another, and instead of coming together and trusting one another, they alienated one of their siblings and allowed some "fate and destiny" bullshit drive their motivations. Luther is not a good leader, however he can be very nurturing and a good caretaker much like their mother. (Not to say those traits can't be leader material, they just don't work in Luther's favor) He cares more for others than himself. He wants to make his father proud and find his purpose, no matter how misguided.

For me Luther is really interesting on paper, it's just I have to be in the right mood to appreciate that in action and I am a bit mad at him for what he did to Vanya but I think he deserves a chance to make things right.

Thank you for making this video! It was really great to hear some defense against all that bashing. Of course I don't like all characters ever made. But to openly bash them or people that do like em, is just sad. So I'm happy the character of Luther gets a chance here :)

Very balanced arguments. Subscribed

Just found your channel and I gotta say I love your voice. it makes me weak.

Luther: dad sent mE TO THE MOOOOON Everyone ever:STFU!

I liked Luther until the last few episodes. I think his character has a lot of potential to grow up. Like learning who he is outside the academy structure of being no.1 and loving on Alison (I don't necessarily think it's bad he loves her but it shouldn't define him totally). Luther is the one that never left so has the most growing to do. I want to see that growth in season 2. Fingers crossed.

I feel like this topic in general is a hard one as well, ignoring the characters in play and looking at the idea of character bashing. I agree with what you said about it being so mainstream that it can make those who have differing opinions to feel left out or that the fandom is toxic which in no way is how a fandom should be but at the same time I’m on the fence about whether character bashing is something that fic authors should stop, I mean it is their personal work and it’s ideas they want to play with just like all the other elements and themes including dark fics and other problematic concepts. I guess for me I can support a good character bashing fic but I can never support the bashing of someone’s opinions in real life in regards to what they like or don’t like with their fandom. It would be nice to see some less Luther hate works and personal I Hope Season Two helps create some plot bunnies for fic writers that give Luther a hug.

Subscribed! A Councilofgeeks recommendation AND nuanced thoughts on Umbrella Academy. Will definitely be checking out the Casually Comics channel as well :)

Whomever disliked this video is 100% pressed. Great video girl💖 I cant wait to see what you do next.

Shipper's guide, your makeup and mine match today...what are the odds?

i hate one hargreeves only and his name is reginald

It's the Albert Wesker guy.

I avoid bashing just because I know how annoying it is when it happens to a character you like. The only time I've been in the opposite and hated a favorite character is in the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom because I could not care less about Chuuya but everyone is obsessed with him. I usually stay away from those fandoms since it's hard to find fan works that appeal to me. In regards to Luther though. At first I did not like him (though I did not like most of the Hargreeves and that changed as the series progressed) but I did started liking him as I saw him develop. I stopped liking him in the last episode however because he was so dismissive of his siblings' opinions (even Allison who he's supposed to love) and does what he wanted instead. I still don't like bashing of him though, I feel like most of it is unfair to him.

I'm afraid I can't hug him, I mean we saw what happened to Vanya....

I love Luther. To be honest, I haven’t felt safe expressing my thoughts on other things in the fandom because many will try to invalid it by using my liking for Luther as some sort of end all for my thoughts. I was mad at him just like everyone else at what he did to you know who, but I mean, all the characters in the show have messed up in someway or another. I didn’t feel the need to hate Luther more than others. I don’t hate Alison for using her powers on her daughter, I don’t hate Vanya for (spoilers) almost killing Alison and ending the world, etc. Yes, Luther made some stupid and ill-advised decisions but it wasn’t his fault that Vanya went evil either, since Five said its always gonna happen, no matter what, unless they change her. Luther was a victim of his fathers upbringing, just like all his siblings and in my eyes, he never deserved any less sympathy. Plus, there’s always season 2 to redeem himself. If people can forgive characters like Steve in Stranger Things for what he did to Nancy in s1 or Loki for killing people in The Avengers or betraying Thor multiple times, then why can’t Luther get a second chance?

Personally I don't really like Luther. Like I don't hate him but of all the siblings he's my least favorite. It's very hard for me to relate to his character (which is odd because I'm an uptight "leader" who is trans and has all my struggles with being trapped in my body). I feel a weird kinship with Ben and Klaus though like idk they're more emotional and I relate to that

You can like who ever you want as long as you’re respectful. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case in fandoms now days. (Not really fan of him). I used to do this when I was younger. Just because you don’t like someone or something doesn’t mean that makes other people who do are bad and or opinions invalid, as long as they’re respectful and not hurting anyone then it’s fine.

1) In my previous comments on your UA videos, it is no secret that I like Luther a lot. I haven't interacted with the UA fandom too much, outside my friend-group. But from what I've seen, the would probably hate me more than they hate Luther for many reasons that I can not be bothered listing right now. 2) I find myself in the opposite side a lot of the times, in both UA and other fandoms. An example of this is from a game that I have recently (a couple months) re-invigorated my love for, Overwatch. People at the moment say that Overwatch has lost it's spark due to burn out from fans and the lack of content and that Blizzard should have a permanent 2-2-2 (2 tanks, 2 dps, 2 supports) role cue especially for competitive play; I am completely against something like this but it is a popular fan request. Another franchise that I love that I don't share the same opinions with fans is Death Note. An idea from Death Note that I have is that Misa is actually very smart (I can say why if someone wants to know, I'll just respond, because I have evidence (?) of this). These are just the top of the opinions I hold that I think are unpopular. (I say think because I thought that Lupin in HP was unpopular but BOY WAS I WRONG). My fandom experience is very limited because I'm not one to be vocal and if I am I can't handle a disagreement. I know you didn't say to number the comments but I did anyway because :). The red hair is cute

I dislike how negative people are about Luther. I think that people need to knock it off or at least consider that they all kind of suck not just him.

Something I noticed after watching the season and just wanted to point out: interestingly enough, the show has actually portrayed both a Mama's Boy (Diego) and a Father's Boy (Luther) and lasting even in adulthood in how they stuck by them. Not just one or the other, not just traditionally a Mama's Boy/Daddy's Girl (because lolol we must only let them be opposite sexes because heteronormativity and Freud), and not just going the opposite way in having a Father's Boy for the sake of being nontraditional, but instead portraying both Mama's Boy and Father's Boy in the same show. So, hey, the show did that. (To be clear, this wouldn't have anything to do with how Sir Reginald or RoboMom would feel about any of the kids, just how the boys feel in their points of views.)

As always you are brilliant and imaginative-with a tragic taste for censorship! Anthropology of fandom does provide for the “LUTHER BASHING”. The 1970’s animated movie “MASTER LOVE LARRY, MASTER FEED LARRY”! The 60’s TV LAUGH TRACK COMEDY SCHULTZ I saw nothing! I Know Nothing”! Keep it up GOOD SHOW!

Going into this show one thing that made me excited about it other than the trailer was the actor that played Luther because he played Percival in BBC's Merlin. I tried my best to like him because I loved him in that show but I ended enjoying other characters more but I didn't hate him. I ended up loving Vanya a lot because I understand her, so when Luther did what he did I was upset but watching this video made me understand his character a lot better. I can better see his point of view now and can somewhat relate to him, I hope next season he'll develop more so that we can all understand him better and feel more sympathy for him as well as having a reconciliation moment with Vanya.

The first time I watched The Umbrella Academy I thought Luther was a dumb fool.. After watching it a second time I still think he’s a fool but I gained sympathy for him and what he has been through (Give The Furry A Hug) He’s made some stupid mistakes like locking up Vanya and not listening to the Team but I think he will redeem himself.. I don’t dislike him or anyone on the team for that matter they all have a part to play.. Hopefully Luther becomes a better Leader/Brother in season 2

One thing that should be pointed out when it comes to opopular/unnecessary character hate, sometimes people take it so far as to bash the actors for it. I've seen people on Tom Hopper's instagram page saying they hate them, or doing the obnoxious "dAd seNt Me tO tHE mOoN" thing. It's incredibly immature. It reminds me of Anna Gunn from Breaking Bad. Her character was so hated that she actually got death threats from stupid fans who couldn't separate fiction from reality. I don't think it's getting to that point with Tom, but just the fact that I've seen even a few hateful comments towards him is bad enough. Hate Luther all you want, but leave the actor out of it. I don't even really like Luther all that much, but all the hate is just making me like him out of spite (and go figure, Skyler from Breaking Bad ended up being my second favorite character on the show out of spite too). I did hate his decision about Vanya, but at the very least I understood his motivations, and I felt really sad for him when finding out more of his backstory. It's very annoying how people will gloss over any shitty thing Diego does (like being awful to Vanya literally 99.9% of the time and mocking Allison about her divorce), or the shitty things Five does (like ditching Klaus, not taking him seriously at all when he should have, undermining him and every single one of his siblings), and acts like Luther is the only one who says or does shitty things. Like, the whole point of the show is that we're watching this traumatized, dysfunctional family work through their issues to save the world. The whole point is that their father fucked everybody up. We can agree that everything that happened with them is awful, but Luther literally dying and being brought back to life with a damn gorilla body and being sent to freaking space, alone, for four years for absolutely nothing, isn't as important as Diego's issues or Klaus' issues? C'mon. That's just unfair. (and, really, I think we can all agree that in the end Vanya is the one who got fucked over the most anyways.) I'm interested in seeing his character progress and hope that he becomes more interesting in season 2. Hopefully by then people will have calmed down their hate boners for Luther. Also, need I point out, it was Luther who started that iconic dance scene. Just sayin. Tell me that crab walk isn't legendary.

I love Luther!

Nice!

I feel like i relater to luther and vanya the most

Whoo early bird!

I don’t bash. But I have a few characters that if bashed I don’t care in Fics ,but harassing fans not cool. (Ron W. And Dumbledore of HP)

I didn't hate Luther, he was just the character I cared about the least. Klaus and 5 just stole the show so it's hard to be super engaged with Luther's character when most of the story was revolving around the other characters. Hopefully they do more with his character going forward make him more interesting and relevant to story.

Honestly, I am not a Luther fan but I appreciate that there are people who like him. I think it’s important that every character gets exploration and nuance. Luther deserves more speculation and fics about him and his struggles. Also...I don’t know if I would hug Luther. Fist bump for sure.

I’m earlyyy :3

i always liked luther, but my opinion of him after what he did vanya kind of lowered.

I'm completely neutral when it comes to Luther. He's certainly a complex character and his abuse by Reginald makes him an asshole but he always had the option to say no but that's default of the typical firstborn character.

Well to talk about mostly hated characters from one of my early fandoms, I felt the Baldur's Gate fandom was far too hard on both Anomen and Aerie. They are both characters with detail stories in the game and some good development, but because one comes off as a self-aggrandizing ponce and the other is frequently whiny to start with, people disliked them so much they often didn't give them credit for the development they went through. To go into detail, Aerie is a winged Elf who got captured, enslaved, and became a feature in a circus. Because she was being kept in a cage, her wings atrophied and had to be amputated. She came under the protection of gnomish illusionist and lived a rather protected life until she joins Charname. She is not used to the sort of hard travel adventurers do, and she frequently ends up talking about the loss of her wings. However she grows through the course of the game and, if one plays a male Charname and romances her, can end up having Charname's baby in the latter end of the story. Anomen is a young man who tries to speak up his acts as a warrior-cleric, does not have a tolerance for evil, doesn't take insults well, has a temper, can be judgemental, but has a dream of joining an order of knights. He however has had a hard youth as his father is a drunkard who harshly disapproves of his wish to be a knight, disapproves of his being a cleric, and generally denigrates and insults him. Said father draws Anomen, and Charname by extension, into a situation where he wants them to avenge the death of Anomen's beloved sister, which his father blames on his business rivals. The test in the game is which course one directs the characters on, as avenging the death means Anomen fails at becoming a knight and Anomen's alignment gets bumped to Chaotic Neutral, or not avenging the murder, gaining his knighthood, and bumps to Lawful Good. If Anomen did not take revenge, the business rival is revealed as the murderer, if he did take revenge, it's his father's own employees. Both courses have Anomen run off for more revenge. I have only played the non-revenge plot, but both have strong character implications as the non-revenge has a Good man feeling conflicted about family honour, while the revenge has huge implications about him losing his way and having to work out who he is without the knighthood. As you may guess, I have a huge respect for the Anomen plot, but most people can't get past his arrogant early dialogues to learn to appreciate his depths. I am not totally innocent there as the first time I started the game I didn't take to him well, but I was more patient after I found out romance plots were on the table and he was the [only] option for female Charnames. I have however seen some really damn fine fanfics that addressed his story really well, so it's not a totally universal dislike. I feel Aerie hate is a bit more universal, with the majority of players preferring the Jaheira or Viconia romances over her, and thus she can be subject to bashing.

I read the thumbnail in Keemstar's voice

I don’t really like Luther that much not gonna lie. He’s the weaker link in the family in my opinion. Also something that he did that rubbed me the wrong way was the fact that he yelled at Klaus after he literally died for him. I don’t know that’s just my opinion. Also the way he treated Vanya was kinda shitty in my opinion. I do believe he gets to much shit though.

I found a lot of Steve Rogers hate when reading stuff focused on Tony post Civil War. It made me sad because, while I didn't side with him on the whole Accords situation, I did see why he made the choices he made. I still think that as a team and grown ups they should have sorted it out without fighting, but then there wouldn't be a movie. Anyways, the Cap hate made me sad cuz I do like him a lot. I still ship him with Coulson which is a really underrated pairing, and I quickly found I had to cut out any 'Not Steve Friendly' tags just for my own sanity.

I did love Luther until his betrayal. That really hit me hard and I hated him for a while. Now I'm more neutral and remember that there's more to him than that one terrible (really bad) betrayal.

I personally do not like Luther but I also would not say that I hate him. If anything I suppose I find him more annoying than anything but even that is not very bad, although, I do deeply disagree with what he did to Vanya and a multitude of his actions regarding his siblings. Regardless of this, he should be given room to grow and develop. In general character bashing makes me uncomfortable regardless of whether or not I personally like the character because I know that I would be hesitant to join or participate in a fandom that is so hostile towards a character I like.