I'm starting to like AJ as a character
Alegra2018
Banned
At first I was sure I would hate him as weak and annoying little boy, I thought that Clementine would always have to take care of him and calm him when he cried (you know like any 5 years old), When he was a baby and a toddler, I never loved him ... I thought he would do a lot of trouble for Clementine, he was not cute to me either (and i didn't like his parents).
Clementine is a child herself (only 11-17 years old), it's so hard to care for a small and annoying child at her age. I didn't like it.
But AJ grow up and he's not like I was afraid he would be. I had to take that into account, AJ could never have been like 8 year old Clementine. she wasn't born into an apocalypse, she was sweetheart and became stronger as she went through more bad experiences ... AJ is different, he is an adult in the body of a little boy and he is smart, mature, and ready to protect Clementine at all times. It's hard to believe he's like 5 years old ... it's crazy, but i love that. He's a strong kid.
One more thing, I thought that Clementine would be the new Lee and AJ would be the new Clementine, I'm so glad it's not like that, we've got something else here! AJ is like mini Lee and he's like protector of Clem, he want to protect her, he's obsessive with that (maybe because trauma about her) and he does not like that Clementine taking care of him and protecting him, he wants to be independent and i like that. He's not helpless little boy.
To be honest I really started loving his character after the scene from episode two. I love "badass" character and he becomes to the most badass in the game (especially because he's born into the apocalypse) he develops an interesting, dark and unusual personality. I love deep character and AJ becomes to that.
I really like how he worried about Clementine, she is the only one he loves, the only one who makes him smile from the heart. he seemed so nervous and worried about her nightmares, about her suffering and decided to sleep with her to make her feel safe and it's really adorable. he does not show much emotion, he is tough, but you can see how he loves his mother figure very much. I'm just afraid he'll kill more people because he's trying to protect her and he can ever cause a person he loves to be in danger, Clementine.
That's my opinion, what do you think?
Comments
Careful, sooner or later this thread will get bombed by people who want to kill AJ so much
AJ MUST BE KILLED HE'S A CRAZY KID REEEEEEEEE jk mate he's a good boy with good intentions it's just his way of handling things needs a ton of work.
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I like him but he needs to learn when to shoot someone and when not to.
I knew that Clem could handle AJ. She was like 10-11 and was a leader of their group. I was also worried about how he was going to act. I think you brought up a lot of great points but overall I agree with you. Clem and AJ's relationship is something special.
Thanks. If you think something else, you can say of course
Finally someone who isn't keen on murdering a child because of the conditions they had to grow up in.
I totally agree. Though I always liked AJ.
tbh I think you (original poster) like him more as a survivor than as a character.
He's ok at best for me when he's by himself, but he's not that great in group settings.
Well, you never know how anybody would do in that kind of circumstance because it was fucked up and it's the zombie apocalypse, it can bring the bad within every people. People make mistakes in their ordinary life, and then there is a child who knows nothing about the laws of humans before him or the apocalypse but he knows that there is only one rule in the world now: kill whoever is a threat to you or may die. I know Marlon wasn't a threat anymore but might be in the future and that's what AJ thinks. It's not that I'm defending what he's done(shooting Marlon), I'm just saying that we have to understand him.
A sociopathic child at that ? remember.... sociopathy is still sociopathy, no matter how they grew up.
You wouldn’t justify a real child if they grew up, say, sacrificing people because they were born in a place where that was accepted, right?
I will say that having an AJ that can actually talk and is big/old enough to be treated as a proper character in his own right was indeed something of a good initial hook for this season proper, even if there still had to be another blatant timeskip and more sweeping things under the rug to make it happen.
His expressions and interactions with Louis, Ruby, Disco Broccoli, and Tenn in particular were most of the moments I legitimately smiled.
Melton, what the fuck are you talking about?
And this is why I am right. You are trying to justify mental illnesses, and AJ clearly has a lack of humanity, by using the “they were born in a certain environment excuse” but there is no justifying murder. Murder is murder, not a case of living in a certain type of world, because at the end of the day AJ killed somebody without thinking twice. To live in the apocalypse you need to think, to use your brain, and in that instance AJ certainly did not. He acted on his gut feeling, not on instinct, and that is what drives him apart from somebody who needs to use their smarts to survive in a world that they were raised in, from somebody who acts without remorse, killing unarmed people who clearly are no longer a threat.
Clementine could have easily locked up Marlon, Marlon couldn’t have done much about that... so why would AJ shoot? Knowing full well that Marlon was surrounded and couldn’t have done much? Being born in a zombie apocalypse doesn’t make you murder defensless people, who’s fate is in the hands of another. That was AJ being stupid and reckless, and there’s no room for that in the apocalypse, and seeing as AJ was born in that world he should know that, and there’ll be quite a lot of distrust in the next episode, and AJ’s dumbness is to thank for that.
He just wanted to protect Clem.
Clem wasn’t in any danger the moment Marlon dropped his gun and admitted his wrong doings. Referencing back to Lee’s teachings: “killing is bad no matter what” and this is most definitely an instance where it was unacceptable
AJ should become the new Clementine and Clementine the new Lee metaphorically.
You have to understand that he is morbidly obsessed with protecting her. I think he has a trauma about her, Marlon was too close to her and AJ was anxious that he would hurt her and did not think beyond that.
It's not. AJ is not like younger Clem, he's the protector.
I hate AJ so much because he aims for the head.
Melton, stop throwing around words like "sociopath" and "mental illness" like you know what you're talking about. I've known real sociopaths and AJ doesn't fit the bill; he's displayed a capacity for social empathy for one thing. You don't have to be a sociopath or psychopath to kill someone. Nearly everyone in the Walking Dead universe has done murder, more than once. It's easy to preach when you're not a little kid growing up in a kill or be killed environment.
Clementine has been the better protector of AJ thqn vice versa..because AJ is "still little" just like little Clemmy was.
Maybe he (AJ) got that unacceptable killing from his mommy who's also killed an unarmed human being in the past.
Clem said that ... but he's not really little. he's act like adult and he's NOT like Clem in S1 and i love that. Just because Clem is older than him that not mean AJ can't be her protector. He want to be her protector... not like Clem in S1.
Clem acts like the parent like Lee did with her. AJ accepts her as his guardian like Clem did with Lee.
Some parallels are there. AJ is a little boy like Clem was a little girl. And it's a great possibility that Clementine will sacrifice her own life to save AJ in some way so that he can live on just as Lee did with Clem.
You did not understand. They do not have the same personality! AJ does not want Clem to be his protector, he wants to be independent and protect her. it's not the same.
Isn't ideally where you'd want to aim?
...no she didn’t??
How about actually messaging me in a private message instead of leaving one in some random fucken thread expecting I won’t see it? ? you want an awkward conversation let’s have one, the on,y psychopath you’ve known is freakin’ Trevor Phillips from Gta ??
Wanna know the definition of a sociopath? Aj. He fits the fucken bill to the letter. Total anti-social behaviour (hitting, biting, staring out of windows holding a FUCKEN KNIFE DESPITE BEING SAFE) and he kills without feeling any kind of remorse, which is at least half of the definition of a psycho.
Have a problem with me hating aj and calling him whatever I want? Then just ignore me, I can treat a fictional character however I want to, I don’t go on a fucken rampage when people shit on Gabe when I only feel sympathy for him, so you shouldn’t attack me for pointing out the obvious flaws of AJ.
Heh
I don’t know what the “heh” means, so I’m going to give you a like so it’s a “heh, this guy is totally right” cos... in this situation I genuinely am.
Say it, don't spray it. If you can't handle people calling you out on your silly hyperbole, then you shouldn't be on the internet, son.
You gonna actually click the reply button next time? It’s not hard to notice. And how is it in any way an hyperbole? I presented facts and you didn’t bother to disprove them at all, you instantly thought “he’s just exaggerating” and the forums aren’t like the rest of the internet, you attack somebody on here and there’s like a 70% chance you’re getting banned for it.
Not gonna respect what people have to say? Fine. I couldn’t care less because it only shows that what you have to say is meaningless.
Also... lol why are all of the forum newbies a part of the bad man squad who try to start shit with me? ? did I actually used to be like this back in the day? That wasn’t rhetorical, I’d love an answer from a vet cos I already think that my past self was a bit of a prick
Well, let clem waste her time trying to protect a kid.... EVEN THOUGH HE HAS A GUN
There was this dude named Eli.
I'm sorry but this should become a meme.
Oooohhh I thought you meant Rebecca. To be fair it WAS an accident, what AJ did was on purpose, but I still hated it when Clem killed Eli and wanted to give her the same lecture I plan on giving AJ
Melton23 has a legitimate theory regarding AJ being a sociopath. What AJ doesn't display are the traits of a psychopath. Both are quite similar. At the very least, AJ has displayed antisocial personality disorder ( which both share ) which is defined by having at least 3 of the following traits ::
By these listings, AJ has displayed #3, #4, and #7 without any real wiggle room. We haven't had enough time to truly qualify the others, but he does meet three of the criteria. Sociopaths are completely able to display and possess levels of empathy and form attachments to a person or a small number of people. That's commonly confused with psychopaths who truly only care for themselves above all else. Researchers tend to believe that sociopathy is the result of environmental factors, such as a child or teen’s upbringing in a very negative household that resulted in physical abuse, emotional abuse, or childhood trauma.
I'm by no means suggesting that Clementine beat the living tar out of him, but there are a number of theories in the forums which allude to this level of abuse having possibly taken place. These theories may or may not be true, but do hold weight thus far.
What is interesting is why AJ feels the need to be Clementine's protector. Why doesn't he feel she is able to protect him or herself?
Probably because he doesn't see himself as a little kid, hence the line: You're still little AJ.