🍬King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph) x (gn) Reader👑
(PLATONIC Child Reader Edition)
(CW: Mentions of unhealthy parent behavior, neglect, etc
Ask here! It’s a lot harder to find songs that really express the complexity that I want for this, but I think I was able to find something finally.) - I think it’s pretty obvious that he wouldn’t be the best father— He gives narcissistic dad vibes if you ask me, guilt trippy, wanting his kid to act a certain way that builds up his friendly sugary sweet king persona into something more plausible, kind of like a PR stunt as slimy as that sounds.
- There’s a lot I think a kid of his would realize about him, the type that makes said kid strive to be the best in things, especially in racing… But not better than him of course, constantly piling expectations on them to the point where they have to walk over eggshells or be lectured about their behavior, abilities, or even the way they hold themselves up, hiding it behind the importance of being a role model among the other racers...
- I do agree that he’d be a full-on helicopter parent, making the doughnut cops trail behind them, eyes always on them. Even with the bad things in mind, I do believe he does at least acknowledge and support his child, projecting a bit onto them with the way he treats them.
- Purposely gives them a fucking complex just so he could have them underneath his thumb, treating them much like he does Sour Bill, a bit patronizing, condescending, but it feels a bit more personal— Such as placing more responsibility, letting them in on secrets, holding things over their head as a means to put them down… Even though they’re like probably nine or something.
- Explaining away the things he does is out of love… An excuse that’s almost universal when it comes to these types of parents.
- Everything they do will be seemingly criticized with a magnifying glass, I do see the reader being a sheltered child, maybe not interacting much with the other kids, kept away to perfect their racing, trying to live up to their dad's expectations—
- With King Candy telling them they are “better” than the others behind closed doors, that they could never compare to the “top” racers he and the reader are, something I think he believes to a degree.
- Uses the black sheep, Vanellope, or the fact that a character can die for real in a game that isn’t their own as a means to make the outside world beyond Sugar Rush out to be dangerous—
- Greatly diminishing their outlook on things, keeping them close, actively feeding them lies so they can be reliant on him as their father, making them feel as if he’s the only person that truly understands them… Just evil stuff.
-I think he goes through a kind of never-ending cycle with the reader, love bombing, sudden disinterest, making them quite literally work for his support as a dad, and then it repeats.
- A mind-wiped free of anything outside of that they simply believe that’s just how parents act, and that they’re lucky to even have a programmed dad considering many game characters are either dead or are not important to the game plot so they're basically in the background, or simply do not exist.
- I believe they try to explain away their dad's confusing behavior, trying to blame it on his important role in Sugar Rush, or simply just wanting the best; wanting to protect… Even if his actions are a juxtaposition to that at times. The denial just runs deep… Child like father I guess.
- But like any other sheltered kid does, reader finds themselves straying away, driven by a vague sense that maybe spending all of their time constantly preparing for the next race or trying to appease their dad is uh… I dunno… Unhealthy?
- That maybe the unfair treatment Vanellope experiences doesn’t rub them the right way when they catch a glance of it before the doughnut cops are able to pull them away, the first sign that not everything is perfect in the land of Sugar Rush in its society.
- I do believe the overbearing way he parents the reader would inevitably be part of the reason why everything goes to shit during the duration of the movie, seeing all the signs, seeing the way their dad’s behavior becoming more and more unhinged when he sees everything he’s built could possibly crash and burn in front of him.
- Kids are able to see in between the lines even if their parents wouldn’t want them to, something that I think King Candy would repeatedly fail to understand, causing an underlying strain to the relationship as a whole.
- Despite how much King Candy tries to force the reader to think more like him, they have something he doesn’t, sympathy. Maybe going out of their way to help our protagonists, going against their father when come to realize that his intentions are not as pure as he says they are, that there’s something more malevolent behind it all.
- I don’t think I could possibly fathom the intricacies of it all but I will say this, a relationship like this between father and child is simply horrible, and I think it would only amplify the fact that King Candy is not a good person and he simply doesn’t care enough to be better, maybe even believes wholeheartedly that he doesn’t need to be fixed— He’s the adult after all, it’s his job to make sure you’re playing your part and staying out of his way, even if he has to hurt you with venom laced words meticulously made to do the worst to you, ultimately shattering that relationship.
- As much as a part may have care for you, I do see him pushing you off to the side to get what he wants, throwing everything away, only for everything to implode on itself from his own hubris.
- Picking the pieces are as hard as they could be, I mean, imagine being told your whole life was a life, someone you deeply trusted wasn’t who they said they were, and your world was on the verge of being destroyed by the same person and monstrous bugs that ravaged everything you knew, only something other game characters could possibly relate to.
(Sorry if this was shit I’ve never really written about something like this before. Still fun though.