User blog:EpsilonMk46/Lincoln the Butt Monkey?

Greetings, one and all. I am EpsilonMk46, the lone rebel that stands against the popular opinion.

I gotta tell ya something, Lincoln sure has been through a lot with us, hasn't he. Whether it be us making stories about him going into some convoluted depression, him going into an out of controlled (and frankly out of character) fit of rage against those who so wronged him, and him becoming an incestuous lover of his many, many siblings. But one certain aspect that almost everyone seems to agree on is that Lincoln has a certain characteristic within the Loud House that seems apparent with how he is handeled in the show. That being he is commonly refered to as the "Butt Monkey": that one unfortunate soul who just seem to catch a break at anything in life and is doomed to an eternity of torment and despair. Well, I'm hear to voice my opinion on the matter because I actually have some strong opinions on the matter. With that said, I have a little something to say to everyone who calls Lincoln the butt monkey of all of his sisters. *ahem*

YOU ARE AAAAAALLLLLL WRONG!!!!!

.............. I couldn't resist. So now that I've gotten that little childish outburst out of the way, allow me to explain my reasoning as to why I find the notion that Lincoln is a sort of butt monkey as completely asinine. First and foremost, let us take a look at the definition of what a butt monkey exactly is.

"The character who is always the butt of the demeaning joke or the "put them through hell" plotline. For whatever reason, the Butt Monkey seems to walk through life with a permanent  "Kick Me" sign attached to their backs, invisible to them, but all too visible to the rest of the world. Nothing ever goes right for this character, and if something bad is going to happen to someone, chances are it's going to happen to them. Long story short, it sucks to be the Butt Monkey." -TV Tropes

This sure does seem like a bad thing to be, no argument there. But I most certainly do NOT see Lincoln as being anywhere close to being what the term describes. To put it simply, I think that whatever hardships Lincoln goes through pale in comparison to what a real butt monkey goes through. From my experience watching the Loud House, I fail to see any suffering that is prolonged enough, exclusive enough, and/or cruel enough in order to label Lincoln as butt monkey status. For example, let's take a look at the times where he had a quarel with his sisters in "The Sweet Spot" and "It's a Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House". I will admit that I can see where people are coming from, but I also can't help but chuckle to myself when they take standard sibling rivalry and blow it up a hundred fold by labeling Lincoln as a total butt monkey because of a simple fight against 10 other people. In addition, the fighting isn't even a 10v1; it's a free for all where the sisters, in addition to fighting Lincoln, also fight each other to see who comes out on top. Yeah, if they are supposed to have a mob mentality within the family, then they are a dysfunctional team of adolescent females who wouldn't hesitate to turn on each other once they've completed their task.

When it comes to physical humor that isn't essential to the plot, however, I will admit that I have seen around 50% of those kind of gags happen to Lincoln. But there is somethign we all should keep in mind. We are all following this boy in his perspective as he takes us through his daily life. Therefore, I feel that it is only natural that we see the physical comedy happen primarily to him because he is the one that we are following throughout most of the episodes. In fact, the episodes that follow the sisters instead of Lincoln, I'd dare say that they are the ones that are subjected to the exact same target practice as Lincoln is. Two prime examples are Lori in "A Fair to Remember" and Lucy in "Spell it Out" with the former being a few simple cases where Lori is subjected to a few physical gags and the latter being a whole episode where it could be argued that Lucy is a butt monkey. In fact, I'd even dare say that the treatment Lucy got in that episode hits more to home in butt monkey territory than any humor that Lincoln has ever been through.

But the thing that really drives home my belief that Lincoln isn't anywhere close to being any sort of butt monkey is one simple line in the TV Tropes definition above. "Nothing ever goes right for this character..." This, THIS, right here is totally, 100% factually incorrect in every possible way imaginable when talking about Lincoln Loud. Because, you see, there have been countless times where Lincoln got a happy ending in the end and many things have most certainly gone right for him. To further exemplify this fact, I'll provide a few just for your viewing pleasure.


 * Left in the Dark: Lincoln may have missed his show, but he manages to get a live experience of what the show was about. On top of that, he gets a loving family to watch it with.


 * No Guts, No Glori: Lincoln managed to get Lori to accept that she can't say no all the time and they even share a good time playing video games.


 * A Tale of Two Tables: Lincoln got back to the kiddie table and he even managed to get the rest of the sisters to tag along and they have a grand time with a food fight.


 * Project Loud House: Lincoln gave a fantastic report with the help of his sisters that would've gotten an A if it wasn't for Luan.


 * Pulp Friction: Lincoln won a comic contest, got to meet Bill Buck, and managed to have his comic featured as a real Ace Savvy comic.


 * Toads and Tiaras: Lincoln got Lana to win the pageant and they scored the Dairy Land tickets in the end.


 * Cereal Offender: Lincoln's sisters got him his treasured cereal and they all had a heartwarming moment together.

Shall I continue?

In summation, I will never believe that Lincoln is the butt monkey of his family. I truly believe in my heart that Lincoln's sisters look past his gender when refering to him as a brother and only see him as a much valued member of the Loud Family; and no amount of physical comedy, rough situations, or moments of supposed torture will ever change that for me. But, or course, I'd like to hear what you all have to say in regards to my arguments. Cast your vote below and explain your reasoning in the comments.

I'm Epsilon and I defend the unpopular opinion. Goodnight America! Do you think that Lincoln is a butt monkey? Yes No I used to, but now that you mention it... maybe not.