Frank: "It's almost as if, in them, they had a kind of... signal. "

[gsyh]

Rebecca, on the phone: "He's not Agent Gideon, is he?"
- "No Way Out II", Criminal Minds

"Intuition is always right in at least two important ways;
It is always in response to something.
it always has your best interest at heart"
― Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

Trigger Warning: for PTSD,

Comments

My definition of woobie

[gsyh]

...is someone who is not only frequently victimized or in a very bad situation, but the woobie in question is specifically vulnerable, psychological so (taking them into a better situation would not necessary help).

Fantastic Four: Reeds Richards (especially zombieverse, I can't believe that fandom remembered Richards as the jerk for turning everyone into zombies - when great General Nick Fury was the one who had Richards autopsy the zombies alone RIGHT AFTER Richards's children were eaten)

The Avengers: Tony Stark Suicide Bingo

...and then,

Criminal Minds: Jason Gideon and Spencer Reid.

I don't count Penelope Garcia as a woobie, though she was at times (or every time she has to view the violent footages) a victim of a "Break the Cutie" attempt. That Garcia is as well adjusted as she is in spite of the things she have seen, that Garcia and Rossi are the molasse that holds the cracker team together, is a testament to what a strong girl she is.

Morgan was a woobie in "Profiler, Profile", that's it, his mother raised a very strong son - he's not inherently broken.

Hotch and Emily, maybe, but they don't risk their lives as willy nelly as Gideon and Reid does. They don't do self-neglect (a staple of woobieness).

Elle is like, ???? she left too quickly.

JJ is most definitely, definitely, NOT a woobie, she's like female Hotch, but I actually read her as even stronger.

While a slight built has a factor in how fandom likes their woobie (plus physical fight does factor in), that ain't it. Hell, in Stargates SG-1, Daniel is frequently written as a woobie (I thik they were the fandom who came up with whump!), and fannish perceptions of what a woobie should look like created a warped memory of Daniel Jackson as a waif, when in actuality he's like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doctor_Daniel_Jackson_(Michael_Shanks)2.jpg

About TWICE as bluff as Colonel O'Neil (so I'm also ???? over the fics where O'Neil easily overpowers Jackson or can carry him with ease).

Reid has about the same built as Hotch really. It's the increasingly level of self-neglect, the give all to others but /resistance/ towards accepting help (except when he was crying at JJ's house), that make me class Reid as a woobie.

Another thing about woobies is The Guilt, I think to this date, Spencer still blames himself for not taking better care of his mother.

Re: My definition of woobie

[gsyh]

Give me some example of Gideon 'whining', other than his BSOD-ish moment in Fisher King over the lost of his safe space cabin (which would later on be parallel by Elle's remark about her not feeling safe at home - the Fisher King episode was not a trauma in itself (or the biggest issue in itself) it was what it dug up).

Hotch is someone heading towards woobieness, but with the help of Rossi, nad Jack being back his life, he didn't actually become one.

I don't count Spencer as a woobie prior to Tobias Hankel actually.

It's not the recklessness in itself, it's the feeling that the character feels that it's better him harmed than anyone else. Derailed, which happened before Tobias Hankel, did require Spencer to go in there, and he went nervously. Later on, he was much more careless with his own life.

Ditto with Gideon, series opened with the episode where Gideon got the unsub to shoot at him so Elle would have a clear shot - and he didn't know her at the time.

That Morgan have trust issues is very very understandable, but he doesn't do self-destruct, his relationship with women, on the amorous front, might be fleeing, but I don't see it as anything more unhealthy than a lot of single professionals trying to figure themselves out (relationship vs career).

Relative to the rest, Gideon and Spencer self-neglects more and take more risk than others, both thinking less of it and to a greater degree that what it might be worth.

Everyone else on the team tends to take a more measured approach to risk. The burning building you referenced in regards to Hotch, that was "Ashes and Dust" right? In that case, Hotch had felt a very personal connection with the man who was inside that building, it's different than throwing your life in for a stranger (and less assessment in regards to worth - like, the teacher being already dead in Compulsion, or the fact that Reid could have been killed by the voodoo Prof - he shouldn't have gone in alone.

Re: My definition of woobie

[gsyh]

I compared Gideon with Elle over their use of the term 'safe place' or somewhere where they felt safe (since one of Elle's trauma was shown on screen)...

to Normal People, a head at the cabin might not be THAT terrifying, but well, it's different for PTSD cases, survivors of violence, usually violence upon their person...it's not the head at the cabin, it's what memories were triggered by it.

Like...you know how many fandoms make a practice of using "trigger warning", because some words or discussion of stuff might trigger somebody's memory of being assaulted? It's like that with Gideon's head at the cabin, except instead of words, it was a head at the cabin.

...though to me, what's most shocking to Gideon wasn't that it was a severed head, it was because he could be 'gotten to' even in his cabin. The note minus the head would have been enough. There was no wild place Gideon could run off to where the unsubs can't find him (so yeah, his road trip doesn't have a good pronosis)

Could you please use // or italtics when quoting?
...and spacing?

Reid didn't go into the train with the idea it was better him harmed than anyone else. He went in because he was the best person for that particular job, despite the seeming lack of experience (although he had to learn sometime)

Exactly, I hope I don't sound mean when I ask you to please read over what I've said again, but I've cited Derail as PRE-Tobias Hankel sample contrast to how Reid was after that.

Context

[gsyh]

There was a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One day, Buffy and her mom was at home when there was a box left on their door, it's a box of roses with the note "Soon", and Buffy's mom, Joyce, thought it was sweet. She didn't know the context.

....which was, the "soon" note was from a depraved serial sex killing vampire that used to be Buffy's boyfriend (looong story), the box of roses, it could be nice roses, but the point if it being at the door is this: he knows where she lives, and he can get there.

[citjara]

Reid is just not made out to be the "physical character type". Mind you, I've seen but a handful of eps, but he's the "brain stereotype" - slightly dyslexic in movements, but sharp as a tack when it comes to using his brain. We don't see him that often busting unsubs, much less arresting one... Gideon once told him that he didn't need a gun to kill, and that's been the approach they keep using for him. I wouldn't necessarily say that's weak. Now Corazon, that was plain right out stupid behavior, but as odd as it seems, I think he's wasn't thinking that far. He is so smart, but sometimes, he can't add up 1+1.