6 Days before I can see Vanya who is definitely smaller than she is in that image.
Cool Beans
Vanya Hargreeves Icons
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The best thing the Umbrella Academy ever did for me was Allison and The Gays™
Klaus saying No 🤚 to drugs in 2.03
Fair warning, this is gonna be a ramble!
So I was just thinking about Vanya, and how sort of sweet and polite she was in the first season, and that got me thinking.
I fully believe Vanya is autistic, and from my own experiences, I was thinking about growing up. When I was a child I didn’t really know how to interact with the world. I grew up watching a lot of TV shows and movies (mostly ones that my sister would put on) but before I mirrored TV shows characters, I mirrored her. But Vanya didn’t watch TV growing up, so she didn’t have Disney Princesses or Thomas the Tank Engine or Arthur like I did. (For anyone who doesn’t know, mirroring is one of the ways that autistic kids may learn to interact with the world, through watching how NTs interact and then mimicking it to fit in or at the very least to be able to communicate with someone.)
The only people Vanya had to mirror were her family, and given their general attitude towards her it seems unlikely that she did. When I was a child I recognised which behaviours I never wanted to mimic: my parents screaming at each other or us, my sister telling me if I didn’t do what she wanted she’d never love me again/she’d hate me for the rest of our lives. I knew those things made me feel bad, so I knew they weren’t things I wanted to do to others.
In the same way, I think Vanya knew she didn’t want to mimic the negative behaviours of her siblings. So I think the person she mirrored most was Grace (and maybe Pogo a little). Grace was their mum, she was loving and nurturing and exactly the kind of person I would have wanted to mirror as a child. Except Vanya has added insecurities. It made me realise that growing up, Vanya was often softly-spoken and polite, because that’s how Grace was. But we never see Grace get angry... So Vanya never learned a healthy way of dealing with her anger, especially given that she was drugged up a lot of her childhood.
If anyone can word this more coherently than I did, or come up with a better analysis, please do, because I’m not sure my argument made much sense (or even had a point to it...?)
TL;DR - Autistic!Vanya mirrors Grace, and that’s why her personality is somewhat reminiscent of Grace’s.
Yknow what gave me feels when rewatching season 1 of Umbrella Academy? Episode 10, when Vanya tears down the Academy.
She walks through all their rooms and sees her siblings, their younger versions, dismissing her, telling her off and treating her like shit.
The only one of them she doesn't see? The only one who's not mean to her? The one she doesn't blow up alongside the house?
Five.
What I'm saying is Five was probably the one person alongside Pogo and Grace in this house who treated Vanya decently and that gives me fucking feels. You could even argue to cut out Pogo and Grace and say he's the only one, cause the two knew how Reggie manipulated her but didn't do anything.
So yeah when Five disappeared, the academy probably turned into hell on earth for Vanya.
That and knowing how soft he's with her, in the very first episode and all through season 2, Vanya being the one he looks at before he decides to storm off, the first one he calls out for when he gets stuck in the apocalypse...
I'd even go as far as say he could've calmed Vanya down when she was going all White Violin and world destruction mode. But he didn't try. Because he was more fixed on stopping the apocalypse, saving the lives of billions than the life of his sister. Because killing is the way he's always taken when fixing the timeline and there wasn't really the time to consider other options in the concert hall.
Also their show off in season 2? I'm crying it was so amazing? Pitting the actual two most powerful and dangerous members of the academy against each other and so underlining their positions in regards of power? It's even canon that they are the most dangerous of the bunch. Just imagine what would happen if those two ever turned out enemies. A whole fucking mess.
Look at their social skills I'm crying.
I also can't but wonder what would've happened if Five hadn't disappeared. If Vanya would've turned out any different. Maybe she would've felt more at home with him. Maybe she wouldn't have written the book. Maybe Five would've defended her from Reggie and the others.
Maybe in season 3, if the Sparrow Academy actually consists of the original squad but differently aged, Vanya is part of the team. And maybe her and Five are really fucking good together.
I need more Vanya and Five as kids. More of how they were at the same age. I feel like something of their relationship got lost because Five is older than her now, more taking on the big brother part than anything else, and given the fact both of them grew up separately under wildly different circumstances after the age of 13, that's of course completely reasonable.
But it makes me want those interaction even more.
GIVE ME FIVE AND VANYA.
I Think We’re Alone Now s1\s2
Fucking tomorrow
I messed up this post the first time, so let’s try again.
Her hatred of squishy foods is not limited to just oatmeal: cooked carrots, cottage cheese, bananas, and mushrooms are off the table.
Very high pain tolerance, to the point where she’s been in actual danger and not realized it.
Slurs her words when she’s forced to go off script.
People have gotten mad at her for seeming disinterested all the time, so she consciously changes her body language so people know she cares what they’re saying.
“When I said I wanted to be special, this is not what I meant.”
She’s slept with the same stuffed animal since before she can remember, and she’s really embarrassed about it.
She’s pretty good with one-on-one conversation, but in group settings, she gets lost easily.
She’s content with having only one or two friends.
She always wears layers because of the weight, and because she’s hyposensitive to heat.
She can recite the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice from memory, but can’t remember what she ate for lunch, or if she even ate lunch.
She’s still working on embracing her autism. It’s hard to see the positive side of something that can mess up your life so much, but she’s trying.
Tua: ✨season two, episode three✨
My brain for the next six months: 🎶SUNNY🎶