The theory of Astarion using the MC by seducing them to keep them as an ally makes total sense considering that he's the only companion who you can romance regardless of approval (as far as I know). I also always thought his "dear" and "darling" sounded condescending rather than flirty >>
In the beginning he will use darling and dear quite condescendingly indeed. Personally it didn't bother me, as I think it fits perfectly for a rogue character.
The approval is a good thing to note for the theory, but it might just be EA shenanigans.
I think entire Astarion romance is just tied to quests at the moment, I had really hard time reproducing some of the conversations, if I progressed with something even though his approval hasn't changed. I mean it doesn't make sense that he would stay there if you take days to get through ACT 1. Shadowheart will seek you out. Maybe Astarion will try to slaughter your party at some point, if you don't take him with you in the beginning.
Not to mention that you can technically get Astarion late, after you already have tad pole powers. If you didn't trigger the vampire reveal yet, you can get the dialogue about Who is Cazador after the dream sequence. He will tell you that he has a vampire master, like you already know that he is vampire, only you don't. It makes no sense.
I'll just keep romancing my dream sequence character, cuz damn he's hot LOL
Pics or didn't happen, all my dream characters look like potatoes, but that's mostly due to buggy scenes I guess.
