#A guide written out by Isaac that he spread across the basement in hopes of being able to help everyone in there with him

[bootleg-sara]

Binding of Isaac hc time

Today’s random topic I felt like talking about: Transformative Bosses

A.K.A - Bosses that change appearances based on who is fighting them at the time

I swear this is more interesting than it sounds give me a chance with this one oajvskand

Been thinking about all of their little change quirks, how they work and the like.

(Bosses talked about: dogma/hush, Boss!Blue Baby, Boss!Isaac, The Lamb, mom’s heart/it lives, mom, mother)

((Long post undercut))

I'm going to start off with dogma, as they are the one I am most unsure of. Basically I have no idea what to do with them but it makes sense in my heart that they would be one of the bosses that changed depending on who used them. Riveting start to this post.

I have been playing around with this one idea of having all the kids fight a corrupted version of a tv-static archangel. I have made a list awhile back about what archangels I felt fit each kid best based on their strengths, personality, desires, etc.

Isaac: Ariel

Maggie: Raphael

Cain: Raguel

Judas: Jeremiel

Eve: Jophiel

Samson: Michael

Lazarus: Azrael

Eden (?): Uriel

Lilith (assigned a demon?): Haniel

Apollyon (?): Zadkiel

Bethany: Gabriel

Jacob and Esau: Metatron/Sandalphon

As you can see, there's quite a bit of question marks on this here list. I'm still unsure if I want Eden/Apollyon to even have an assigned archangel, apparently I was debating giving some characters such as Lilith and Esau high ranking demons instead of archangels. A bunch of characters are just, straight up not here. Don't know why past me didn't give them anything. Anyhow, it's an idea I have been playing with. I think its neat but very unpolished.

Another boss I have few ideas for is the Lamb. Much like dogma I don't really know if I want them to change between the kids. They are a soft and kindred spirt who truthfully doesn't like fighting the kids. The Lamb only does so because if they didn't the kids would instead be trapped in the dark room and go out a much more painful death of waiting for the basement to consume them. Despite the everchanging nature of the basement, The Lamb likes to dig graves for the people he kills. Give them a bit more respect than what they usually get here. I may end up keeping them as their own thing like Satan, who knows.

You go over to Hush, who probably changes the least out of the bosses that do have different forms. The big second phase is the same across the board. Always a humanoid figure of something trying to break out of the ground without success. It's first phase is slightly affected in the same way Boss!Blue Baby is, though more subdued in the graphicness. I'll get into BB later.

Hush overall is a very subdue boss in terms of interaction with others. They don't interact at all with the kids. No known goals or wants, seemingly acting more on instinct than anything. The second phase resembles that of someone trapped under ground. Sometimes one can see two giant hands pushing up against the ground, but never strong enough to do anything other than elevate the ground a bit. Not exactly the most comforting boss of the bunch being surrounded by walls covered in screaming faces (Everyone is grateful the faces can't make any noise). Everyone feels the same sensation of constantly being watched when in the blue womb, even before seeing Hush.

The mom fight is pretty basic. The "aesthetics" of the boss fought is dependent on the kid's own parental figure. Some are their mom, others see their dad, simple. Really whatever authority figure they either fear the most or are the most scared of hurting themselves. There's a few exceptions, but not many. The mom fight does absolutely love to shout at their opponent. Very mean things too. The people Apollyon and Blue Baby swap between all the other's fights. Eden does so as well, but most often gets Isaac's mom.

The mother fight functions pretty similar to the mom one. Whatever person you see as the mom fight, you'll see as mother, but in an dying, corpse state. During the first phase you'll only see the head and arms, typically showing some pretty fierce aggression. though once you get to the second phase the body will shot itself out of the wall, dragging behind a giant mass of rotting flesh, it's back covered in the many faces of the many mom fights from the other kids. Everyone has unanimously agreed the mother fight is not worth it and most times avoid it. After awhile the kids started thinking that maybe that was the exit all along. Begrudgingly they choose to try for the alternate route. Unfortunately for them they where incorrect.

Mom's heart and It Lives are quite the interesting duo. They don't have the ability to communicate, though that's not stopping them from having an impact. The kids can either see the heart or the fetus, usually dependent on how much general pent up animosity someone feels. Mom's heart (or just "The heart" for the kids) Shows up for the people who have particularly strong hate towards the world and situation. Mom's heart/it lives is the only boss that doesn't stick with one "form" per kid, and will often change multiple times every time its fought with the same kid.

Boss!Issac is a jerk. They loves to wear little accessories pf the people they fight and taunt them relentlessly. Your sins are the on display for God and your judgement will come. Of course this judgement is coming from that of a false prophet, though in their own eyes they are the holiest figure in this hellish landscape. Boss!Isaac is all about pointing out everyone's little flaws and tearing them apart. And that's when he's not barraging you with tears and holy shots, which he also loves to do. I made a few little doodles of them. Basically they are the closest to the game's counterpart. Just wearing a standout accessory of their opponent. You know, to really dig in just how terrible you really are.

I uh, did not draw Boss!Isaac Isaac form properly here. Oops. He wears a headband with horns when with Azazel. Boss!Isaac despises it.

Finally Boss!Blue baby. Going be getting into some light descriptions of death with some of the kids, so if that makes you uncomfortable then here's your end point.

Boss!Blue baby is interesting. So to get into the basement you do have to "die" in a sense. Each person in here had to have died in a specific way and/or met a certain criteria. While the body goes missing and the kids don't remember actually dying, the process is still required. Blue Baby is a result of this necessity, who has been in the basement for quite some time. While it wasn't until recently when their consciousness separated from their boss form to become their own being (it was bound to happen eventually, just happened to be when the kids were here), they had always taken the form of the person's deceased self. Their blue color came from the most common way the people of the far past arrived at the basement, often through affixation. I also made a few doodles of 3 different blue baby forms.

(Poor Samson was torn about by wild wolves, Judas got stuck trying to run away via a cave tunnel which ended up being to tight for him to crawl through. Basically suffocating himself with breath as he tried to get deeper. Similar to what happened at the nutty putty caves if you've heard of that incident. Don't recommend looking it up if you have claustrophobia or are sensitive to tragic events)

(I don't actually have deaths set up for most of the cast, only a few of them. Still have to work out backstories. Apollyon hasn't died in the physical world at all so they get a random form, BB sees themselves)

There's a few common traits that all forms of BB have, including the blue skin, X's for eyes, a sown up mouth, and some form of wings. What the wings are change depend on where said person died. Some have generic fly wings, while others, like Samson and Judas here, have wings that better represent where they died (the wings of a crow/raven and deep cavern mushrooms respectively). These wings don't have to even be actual wings, just some close approximant. As long as it is growing out of the back, pretty much anything goes.

Boss!Blue Baby has always been the silent type, never felt the need to talk when its looks did all the talking for it. After the split Boss!Blue Baby lost the ability to speak completely. Friend Blue Baby has grown out of their shell more and is more willing to converse with others.

I plan on drawing out most of these bosses at some point. There's just a lot of unknowns right now that need settling