#ava6 spoilers

[inksandpensblog]

For a series where the slavery started off as kind of a joke, and moreover a series that's been largely aimed at children since its revival, I sincerely believed that actually whipping a character on-screen would be too grim for AvA. I never thought they'd go there.

Like I pondered the possibility that it'd happen, conceptually, to the character. But I never thought the show would actually depict it.

There are only so many contexts a whip can be relevant in; they have connotations. When the whip is turned against a person in distress, the atmosphere becomes blatantly cruel. There's no way to sugarcoat it, there's no blurry lines. Whips bring suffering. Their mere presence agitates, let alone the actual pain they inflict.

It's a level of dehumanization that's so much more easily and instantly identifiable as terrible than some other stuff that has been done in the series, or even to this character.

And it's especially deplorable that it was done to this character, given Chosen's history.

We don't actually know if he's been whipped in the past, he might not have been, but. Whether he was or not, the implications regarding power dynamic that are inherent in the presence of a whip are unmistakable. He understands, on some level, what is happening and what it means, even if his understanding doesn't approach from the same direction that Victim's does, or that the viewer's does. The scene pauses for him to react, after the whip is cracked. He sees significance in its presence.

There really aren't many ways to interpret a fearful person being mercilessly attacked with a whip. Especially if he's got a halter around his neck allowing his attacker to control his ability to distance himself from the harassment, which carries its own implications.

I see merit in the idea that Victim was trying to tame Chosen like a wild beast, and I'm willing to believe that that's the understanding which Chosen or Victim or both have of the situation. But as a viewer I cannot completely separate what's happening on-screen from the banal idea of a slave being punished. Horrific, contemptible, violating, disparaging, unjust, inhumane abuse.

And it's happening to Chosen, who already threw off the shackles of his own slavery years ago. And it's happening under the hands of Victim, emulating the actions of his own abuser...who happens to have been Chosen's abuser as well.

We only saw the beginning and the end of Chosen's enslavement; we don't know what all he suffered while oppressed by the animator. We don't know what Victim knows, of what Chosen has suffered.

Tools have never been used to restrain a character by the neck before, in this series. Strangulation is always done by hand, to win a fight, never to prevent them from leaving it.

Whips haven't appeared at all before now, in this series, much less been used against the characters. And then, of all the characters they could've picked, they pick the one with a history of slavery, a concept that shares a heavy correlation with whips.

It's messed up. It's so much more messed up than I thought the series would be willing to go.

[hey-that-hurt]

I’ve actually been craving whump/angst stuff based on AvA 2 and 3 for *years,* even wrote a little thing once despite writing being pretty rare for me.

I only recently decided to make a whump blog (I’d been wanting to reblog whump content for a while, but didn’t feel like putting ‘hey! I like it when fictional characters suffer terribly’ out into the world) and lo and behold, out comes a new episode.

Tbh I’m shocked that The Box was as intense as it was. Up until this point AvA has been pretty kid-friendly, but that— that was nearly a full-on torture scene, minus any blood or anything. I could count at least like 3 or 4 popular whump tropes happening there.

Me being how I am, I was all for it, but—

Alan Becker. There were like, 5 whole minutes of Chosen just getting completely and utterly broken down. What was that.

Sooooooooo.... Animator vs. Animation: The Box

Spoilers ahead.

Also, I know this is a stick figure animation, but trust me when I say that it is good. You don't need to watch the series to enjoy the whump in this episode.

So here's the full video of course. The full whump scene starts at about 4:26. If you aren't familiar with the series, the black captive stick figure is called "The Chosen One", and has superpowers. The dark gray stick figure who confronts TCO is "Victim", a character with indirect history with TCO, but who doesn't really have a reason to hate TCO except maybe envy.

I absolutely love the whump in this video. It involves restraining and depowering an extremely powerful character, which is one of my favorite tropes. The whumpee has to deal with being powerless when such a thing is so rare, and any spectators or caretakers have to confront the idea that the whumpee isn't infallible.

This particular whumpee has-- not exactly childhood trauma, but at least early-life trauma relating to captivity and restraints, which really adds to the significance of this scenario.

If you like this, I recommend watching the entire Animator vs Animation series from the start! (connected to but distinct from Animation vs Minecraft, a multi-hour series of short animations with fun lore and character development, but not necessary for watching the significantly shorter AvA series)

[datrb]

AvA6 ep.2 sketches, because i have no self preservation instinct

SPOILERS AHEAD!

"You will tell me everything you know, whether you like it or not"

(Honestly, the fact that i made this scene look LESS gay than it was originally tells a lot about the original...)

Also, i am NOT going to ignore Green making a literal ass pull.

Popcicle.

(Wheezing guy is Flipnote(Pixel))

Tbh, i sure had some expectations about Victim in AvA6, and those were quite prominent from the way i drew him, especially in the ask comic, but what i didn't expect is for ALL of my expectations to end up as canon.

From his reasoning behind catching Chosen, to the fact that he prefers hand-to-hand combat, and that Agent serves as his "right-hand-man" or a secretary of sorts.

... Even the whip...

For ****'s sake...

[water-lemon-alex]

i’m back uhhh before my holiday ends i’m just gonna post these redraws i made after ava6 episode 2 released

( SPOILERS )

I honestly GASPED while I was watching it was INSANE like “NOOOOO DON’T TAKE YELLOW AWAY PLEASE” or “OH MY GOD SECOND KNOWS”

I also feel very bad for Chosen 😭😭

[lucilleblogs]

GUYS GUYS GUYS I JUSY REALLY NEED TO TELL YALL

OOPS MB SPOILER AVA6 EP2

YALL ARE RIGHT YALLS THEORIES ARE RIGHT I AM NO LONGER IN DENIAL ‼️‼️😭😭😭😭🎉🎉🎉🎉

[kingollyorigami]

ava6 spoilers

yeah so

how are we feelin animator vs animation moots

[winolas-boosts]

Spoilers for AvA 6!!

yo guys ava6 lookin kinda different for me

[lumarys]

new episode THOUGHTS!! (spoilers for ava6 ep. 2 under the cut)

this time it's rygb who are saving orange! most of the time it's the other way around so this is fun to see

green fall into a leadership role pretty easily here, it's honestly pretty cool how characterization is so consistent in this series even though there's no dialogue

the fact that the grey stick couldn't animate with the pencil makes sense (as far as i've seen it's a pretty common headcanon that animating is an orange thing), but they couldn't even move the drawing by pulling at it, which IS sort of weird, because i swear that other characters have done that before

possibly it's a computer-only-unless-you're-orange thing, or maybe only some sticks can do it? i'm pretty sure that the other example i'm thinking of is victim in ava1 so it could be either

victim, to chosen: And For Your Birthday Present, I Am Giving You A New Experience: Getting Your Ass Completely Beat

i don't know if they're still pretending that that might not be victim but that bit with the copies? that's pretty much confirmation

the eel that orange drew seemed to get really scared/angry at the eraser, and given how orange was acting, they couldn't control it...hm. thoughts for later perhaps

oh so victim wants to know how to get to alan. this can only go well for everyone! /s

memory scanner! i don't have too much to say about this but it's neat

orange is TOTALLY not having a crisis after seeing that! nope!! they are SO chill about any revelations that might have come about as a result! not that there WERE any revelations, of course!! hahaha..haha...ha....fuck

victim seemingly ONLY noticed yellow in that shot. i get that the others were only sort of visible and not doing anything computer-related like yellow, but they were still looking that close into the background, so i'm a bit surprised

that's a LOT of wanted posters. like...a lot

and of course rygb get there right after

from what i can tell, they take yellow away, but not red, green, or blue? i think that they're just left lying there. they all must be SO confused about that

victim burning that page...

and then it ends!! so much happened...

[inksandpensblog]

can we talk about the irony of Victim wanting to get to Alan and completely brushing off the one stick who probably has the most to offer him in that regard?

dude did not give Orange's existence the time of day for the entire episode. Even finding out he had powers they hadn't known about, he just didn't have time for that right now

makes me wonder what he thinks Chosen has that Orange doesn't, in regards to the animator

[spectorcsm]

AvA6 EP1 SPOILERS

Alright peeps I'm joining in this chaos and you should all fear me This post has no plan or path this is just a ramble analysis of things I notice in the new episode so :D

EXPECT MAJOR SPOILERS, PLEASE WATCH THE EPISODE FIRST ^-^

Ok so like first off guys- maybe like- don't fire your glitch weapons in the middle of a crowded city?? This seems like a bad idea?? You guys are worse than the Avengers when it comes to collateral damage smh

Ok but Chosen stopping mid-chase to save that civilian by destroying the debris really goes to show how he's improved as a character, this guy went from destroying Alan's PC, to rampaging various sites with Dark, and now to this. Glad to see him as a proper hero now :D

I'm happy to see the ice powers coming back cuz after that one time he froze the Firefox I thought they just forgot about it lol

Chosen is Zeus now Also he just like creates a glacier 2 seconds later cool

Also quick shoutout to Alan's Desktop organization He has come a long way

I find it funny how much everyone focused on this clip in the trailer especially, like "Oh no does Orange get mad at Alan again?? Is this related to Vic???" and the reality of it is "lol wanna fight me guys?" "Sure sounds fun :D" Alan you have bamboozled us again

I find this moment rather interesting So after Alan pulls up the thingy and sends them all flying then crashing down, Red appears to be acting like they hurt their head and Yellow notices and crawls over to see if they're ok (Awwwijascsdhljw) but as soon as they do Red just punches em?? However then Yellow puts their hands up in a way almost to be like "whoa whoa it's just me" and then Red accepts the comfort. Idk I just find it interesting, like Red is still in fight-mode after the sparring match and doesn't quite register that it's Yellow touching them at first XD

Chosen: "COME ON DO IT, DO THE EYE THING" Orange: "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT IDK HOW TO DO THAT" Chosen: "YES YOU DO JUST DO IT, LIKE THIS:" Orange: "AAAAAAAAA" *Tries to do laser-eyes with every ounce of focus they have*

Red: "uhhh are they ok-" Green: "Maybe you should stop them?" Blue: "yeahhh maybe-" Yellow: "Hmm, yes. Interesting"

Chosen: "UGH FORGET IT YOU'RE COMING WITH ME" Sticknapping 101

Aight but like where did this guy (Btw I'll call him Striker cuz that name was going around and it's cool) get this stuff? Has their group attacked a Desktop before and managed to steal enough UI to make this guy OP? Cuz he uses a lot of really crazy stuff during this fight and I can't help but wonder what poor animator woke up just to find the entire UI on their software missing lol

I love how Chosen really just pulls the "Throw the kid in the pool to teach them how to swim" on Orange and his powers here lol Then to Chosen's surprise it does not work "Aw shoot the kid is drowning now I gotta save them smh"

YEAHHHH ART POWERS Ok but actually though I find it interesting how differently the Pencil tool works outside a Desktop, like usually Orange like speed-draws the whole entire thing but out here it's like Ah yes, line scribble = E e l I mean it actually kinda makes sense, in the 3D world it'd be really difficult to draw anything really so the Pen just changes function a bit based on the environment

Poor Green does not enjoy climbing it seems :(

This guy can forever one-up everything "Ok but have you beat up a shark with your bare hands and won?

Ok but this guy's style is just like tribal or primitive and it's honestly pretty cool I have no clue what to call them though so that's up to the rest of the fandom to decide ':D

Also someone else on a different site suggested the name "Warnman" for this guy cuz he looks like the typical hazard sign guy who's always showing the dreadful things that will happen if you don't obey the sign and I think the name fits so Warnman is honestly my favorite of these guys just cuz of how wacky they are lol

Also this guy has to be like Anime Stick or something I do not understand this dude at all but they're sick

Let it be known that Warnman is canonically 2D

Dude how much charge do those electro-bullets hold if that thing is STILL zapping Chosen This poor guy Also the way Striker fights throughout this whole scene is so cool

I find it interesting and I think Alan pointed out in the reaction video (really funny btw you should go watch that too) That Striker is totally just messing with them before that, like sure he probably has to be close to the target to use the Pause attack but I like to think he was enjoying the fight before that and is only just doing it now cuz he's bored lol

Aight so the Rocket Group is the one hunting Chosen I wanna know though- why Chosen specifically? Are they just after all Hollowheads with the powers or is it just Chosen they want? Maybe they're after all of them but Chosen is the only one with a super known presence? Also who are these guys?? They seem to be just some independent group but do they hold any sort of actual authority over Stick City? Man I have so many questions

How do you pause fire-? Does it still burn? I assume not cuz I think it woulda burned the guys bringing him by now Man that's wacky but cool Also another question here is like, is that white box a containment unit or some sort of display case? I'm thinking more along the lines of containment but like he's already paused and they left the door open I think??

Aight now we're getting to the theory-fuel Why are they studying all this UI? Where'd they get this UI? Why do all these sticks look exactly the same??? Like I get that it's just supposed to represent a large group of workers and stuff but they are all exactly the same shade-

A h a A h a a a . . . VICTIM???? VIC MY GUY WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?? LIKE I GET YOU'RE PROBABLY MAD AT ALAN LIKE KILLING YOU AND ALL BUT WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH CHOSEN AND EVERYONE?? I have many questions Also I am wondering if all the UI decor in his office is just art or what, are they trophies maybe? They probably had to get the UI for Striker's setup somewhere, did they raid Desktops before? Are those trophies from animators he's beaten? Man Idk but this is so interesting My final take on the episode: AAAAAAAAAAAAAA LET'S GOOO AvA 6 HYPEEE :D

[cindersnows]

AVA6 PART 1 SPOILERS

why is xe so caked up

[agftheorist]

SPOILER FOR AVA6

Since we now know more about what's happening, let's look at the cover of the video.

1- before watching I thought it was the outside world and Chosen was escaping. Now we know he's in a frozen state inside that white tank.

2- green is hit, so that'll probably happen in a next episode, pretty self-explanatory

3- is it just me or the color of blue seems a little too light, almost turquoise? My theory is that the bucket tool in that giant archive of drawing functions will be all around in a fight.

[aannonn]

OH MY GOD

NEW AvA6 EPISODE JUST RELEASED YAYAYYAY

today is being great so far tbh

first, new ava6 episode released

then my best friend of all time is finally back from her universityy (tho only for a lil' bit until she has to go back-)

and i just woke up too

awesomeφ(゜▽゜*)♪

Lil' spoilers for those who did not have seen the AvA6 Episode 2 yet....

The whole time I was internally screaming;

"VICTIM YOU BETTER TREAT YOUR LIL' BRO WELL"

(I headcanon the hollowhead bros as actual brothers lol I respect people who do not view them as brothers, though! xd)

anyways im worried for the colorgang but i know they got the spirit

Welp! I think that's it..?

Cya ~ ! <3

[lucilleblogs]

AVA6 EP2 SPOILERS

When the uhmwjwh when the tmeh uhwne them if when the u eoduu

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHOSEN💥🔫 (I didn’t know when his bday was 😭)

And a few sketchy ava6 redraws 🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 (can u tell what I’m insane about and who I’m hyperfixated the most on)

[inksandpensblog]

The Box

I'm finally watching the episode! These are my stream-of-consciousness thoughts through my initial viewing. This isn't thought-out refined analysis, these are just the thoughts as I have them the moment they appear in my head.

They're getting better at the 3d running/walking animation.

Green being the one to notice details, like in The Village.

Civilization!

Green only drew one but then he just has three more? Cartoon magic or stickfigure magic? Or just saving time on a meta level.

This looks like a nice little toh that's a white-filled head, they're ALL white-filled heads (all look like freehanded circles though)

For a given value of "white," I guess, but they're all very light colors. And they all have head accessories. Interesting...

Okay it's kinda funny that nobody would talk to them and the truck is right there. Did they think the color quartet were giving handouts or something? None of them stopped to listen long enough XD

Ooh, so these are some kind of simulation chambers? Looks like they've simulated a desktop art program.

Hmm, so Orange's ability to just have whatever he wants manifest into existence with the stroke of a pencil is unique to him; these guys try the same motions and all they get are regular lines. (Also if Orange can do all that outside then why are they doing these experiments in the simulation chamber? Is it just for safety or can they not do it outside? Shady could use his toolbar outside just fine...)

Orange's drawings were alive, almost from the first line it seems. Before they even took their shape. These ones aren't.

I don't like how coldly they're treating my boy :(

you.

and then they don't even interact?? okay, so...Victim is pretty single-mindedly focused on whatever is about to happen with Chosen, and whatever it is doesn't involve Orange so Orange is irrelevant to him rn. Why bind him then? Where's he going? :(

he went in. by himself. I'm...not sure how to feel about that. surprised? it's not like the thing had a door. though looking at that control-display, it does look like there's something within the chamber itself that's also containing Chosen. Or is that just the bounding box? I think it's a bounding box actually. So this is also a simulation chamber. (this is giving me all sorts of questions about how the artboard recognizes the toolbar icons as graphics while the tools still retain their functions as tools and I'm gonna stop before I spiral)

oh, it did have a door

WAITAMINUTE why is Victim's bounding box 2d and Chosen's 3d???

...oh. so...Chosen's fire registers as a separate graphic from him, then. good to know??

wait what the- just altering the visual is enough to affect his ability in producing that power??

why did we just cut to the hunter sharpening their spear? don't like that. not while you're stealing all my boy's natural defenses.

that one lingering second after Chosen's lasers die out but before he turns around to face Victim is haunting. Bro's been trapped and depowered again.

Okay nitpick but Victim's head isn't changing shape every frame and it's driving me up the wall. Did he have some work done between the last installment and this one?

I can't tell if I'm supposed to laugh or not at Chosen just standing there and tanking all of Victim's hits, and honestly I like that I can't tell, the dissonance is fun. But putting that aside...Chosen just let the dude have at him like it was no big deal. He didn't actually fight back until he decided he'd had enough. I suppose he could've just been confused about why this guy was attacking him...but he doesn't even block or dodge. He doesn't defend himself, his hands aren't even up, he's not even really in a fighting stance, and it takes him a bit to even retaliate. Even after the first one, his body language is just "bruh why." Which. Is an interesting attitude to have when he's trapped and depowered and being punched by a stranger.

Chosen finally counters, and it cuts to the control panel outside, looks like they're about to raise some setting. I've gotta take a break for a meeting, here's my thought: Victim never left the art program, in AvA1. In a very literal sense, he spent his whole life in it. It's where he found all the things that enabled him to fight back. In a weird way, it makes sense that this is where he's powerful, that this is where he's comfortable fighting. (and I know my personal headcanons are about to get blown outta the water but I'm really glad that I was on the right track in regard to this idea. though something I hadn't ever imagined was that he'd rely on other people to supply those advantages instead of obtaining them himself)

Meeting over, back to the episode! (I wonder if the title of this episode refers to the white chamber Chosen is in or the actual bounding box. Given that the mere appearance of a bounding box in Wanted was enough for many of us to clue in to Victim's involvement, even before he appeared in-person at the end of the episode, I'm leaning that direction. Amazing that it only happened once in the series before Wanted and it was already enough of a legacy to make him recognizable. I'm now realizing that in AvA2 the first thing Chosen did even before attacking the cursor was destroy the bounding box. Also realizing that the bounding boxes in this chamber aren't visible, unlike in the test-chambers in the previous scenes.)

interesting...each of Vicitm's limbs are separate graphics with their own bounding boxes, which is how they looked in the Bloop animation course that Alan made, but it isn't how he was in AvA1. Though he was recognized as a single graphic just a few scenes ago, so that might not mean anything.

why, stop, dude we get it you're strong now you've proved your point stop beating him up-

oh good Chosen's still got his own strength, he's fighting ba- what- okay what, can't take what you dish out??

Ooh, I don't think we've seen Chosen actually throw fire like that (instead of just blasting and halting blasts) since the early episodes.

okay, nice to know that Victim actually can dodge on his own

...don't like how little time it took Chosen to start feeling exhaustion...

...don't like how much trepidation the lasso is giving me. that feels like one of the crueler things to use against Chosen; not because we've seen it used against him before (only Victim and Orange have used it themselves, and only Victim has had it used against him, and good grief Orange and Chosen still don't know how Victim is connected to Alan-) but just because...I really don't want him bound and leashed again, he's been through enough of that. still, I had predicted that we'd see him using the lasso at some point in AvA6. I'm not happy I was right. (man, back before we knew Victim would make a proper return to the series I used to love the idea of him using it again. it's like the clearest example of him outwitting the animator and taking his tools for his own use.)

NOT THE NECK- they've never gone there, I don't like this-

oh what they actually- I was not expecting that. whips haven't appeared in the series before. oh I really don't like this.

God he's crawling back- why-

I had to pause. either the group outside just did something with the controls that Victim wasn't anticipating, or...Chosen felt threatened enough to turn his powers on himself and encase himself in ice as a defense. fuck. someone get him out of there. no flight, can't fight, man was pushed far enough he literally resorted to freeze. The Chosen One. I don't think that's ever happened before.

Fuck, that's just too much, I can't even bring myself to feel excited about seeing the duplicates again. though it is good to know that my headcanon about him needing to be in an art program in order to duplicate himself ended up being accurate. we'll see if my headcanon about it being one Victim with five bodies (as opposed to being five Victims) holds up. if they even have a way to show any difference.

[sighs, pulls AvA1 up in another tab] yep, they're all there. lasso, hammer, extended thumbtack (though it doesn't look like a thumbtack here, which is interesting), whatever that chain-accordion thing is, and the ninja star. why are you doing this? man literally froze himself immobile to get you to stop torturing him, just leave him be.

...haHAHAHA! Oh that felt good, that made me smile. Hopefully this means Chosen has recuperated a bit.

the animation of Victim on fire was so nice I completely missed Chosen breaking the ice XD going back to catch that made me realize that the other Victim duplicates literally just...stood and watched the one burning...

don't let yourself get backed into a corner-

OH he escaped the hold, nice-

I didn't realize until the lasso came back that he'd gotten rid of it when he broke the ice :( but before that he actually uses his fire-breath again, which is always nice to see. interesting to see it concentrated in a thin stream instead of just roaring out like usual.

oh yikes why- him on fire-

...don't do it, man...

OH HE OWNED THAT, LET'S GO!!! Great thinking, Chosen! (heh, nothing about this situation remotely resembles that time Chosen grabbed the cursor and forced it to click him free, but I was reminded of it nonetheless. something about the tool being turned against the user, but in such a different way than Victim does it.)

OH HE- ...oh...I was gonna say oh he learned, he adapted enough that he predicted them flipping his fire and he used that- but then they just nullified it immediately...

Victim don't snap the rope like that, we don't need any more implications we already know you're planning to put him in a world of hurt, why can't you just leave him alone now, what are you trying to prove

hh, back to Orange I guess...

MATH SPOTTED, MATH SPOTTED-

oh! they're bringing him to the- okay that makes sense, if it only works when he does it then obviously the next step to figuring it out is gonna involve him.

wait was he- could he not move when the bounding box was picked up?? (also neat that he immediately got worried once he realized he's in a bounding box, dunno if that's because of what happened in the last episode or if it's just because...he spends a lot of time in an art program so he'd naturally be familiar with what they can do and what it means to be inside one)

...well, nice that they at least get his attention before picking him up

oh now you're being friendly, sure. yeah Orange ain't having it.

okay, [picks up pencil] [instant notetaking] was funny XD

aaw, it's swimming around him

oh it knows what the eraser means

...wait it wasn't an electric eel in the last episode-

hexagons- and the power flickered

okay Orange stumbling around trying to stay out of its way makes it clear that he isn't controlling this thing once he's finished drawing it, it's acting on its own. it...it really feels distressed.

hah, they're all cowering. losers.

oh, back to this.

...did you have to make it so personal, Victim?

a chair

...okay not sure why that happened, could Chosen not just...lean forward? I rewound to watch it again and realized he's exhausted again after the slow-mo ends (is that from the slow-mo itself or just his exertion from the fight before the slow-mo?) and he...doesn't even struggle when Victim lifts him by hand with a lasso to the neck. is...is he just ragdolling now? is he at the point where that's his best option for minimizing conflict?

...he is. he's ragdolling. fuck. (damn you cc!Alan for introducing ragdolling in a comedic short-)

...no? no what?? no, he doesn't know anything about the animator? (which we know isn't true, but why would he deny that?) or no, he isn't going to answer?

don't tie him up, please...

oh now he starts struggling?

...back to ragdolling. good grief, the way they animate his legs just swinging even though they can still touch the floor...

...heh, I appreciate his spirit, especially at this point, but...Chosen you kinda just put yourself in a worse position.

...oh, what is that? I don't think we've seen anything like that before. It's got the floppy disk that's used as the "save" icon in many applications, but it looks kinda like a headset.

...a VR headset specifically, I guess.

OH WHAT- okay rad animation, but WHAT

...oh fuck, I've always wondered if there was a way to see the data that would be a stick's memory. FUCK what are they gonna use this for

wait they're bring Orange here?! Or are they just passing on their way back to the cell? but why are they going back to the cell, was the eel too much for them??

...wait, what? signal lost, I assume because Chosen dislodged it enough to disconnect, and then...instead of picking up where it left off it jumps all the way back to Showdown?? was...was Showdown just on Chosen's mind? or is this the memory of him recalling it right before flying to alanspc to entreat Orange's aid? ...or...are memories from beyond the sky-barrier not compatible? that doesn't make sense...

what's with everyone's reactions to Second's powers?

...I forgot Orange's cell is in here. whoops.

oh this is how he finds out??

hands first ("I did that??") and then his eyes ("Chosen was right??")

...and of course. I expected they'd lock him down with extra security as soon as they realized, but. poor guy.

(dammit I purposefully refrained from making a "dark mode" joke, you didn't have to go and put it on the damn control screen)

...and even after that (which, judging by Victim's reaction, even he hadn't known about Second's powers), the animator is still Victim's priority.

oh, this isn't just any clip of the cursor's involvement in Showdown, this is specifically while Yellow was rendering the cursor in.

and then they immediately pan to Yellow which means that observation is actually gonna be relevant, FUCK-

OH FUCK THE WANTED POSTERS

("earnings growth," so they actually do have a business element to them)

aaand the security cameras caught them peeking out of the truck, they literally just started printing the posters and they've already located Yellow-

that fight is mesmerizing. we haven't seen one like this before, as far as direction and setting. plus it's really interesting to see how the four respond. I might look deeper into that later. also that was a cool transition.

and Yellow is dragged off. The story has never had one of the quartet singled out in-universe by the plot like this before. they aren't even apprehending the others.

...of all the sticks to have a lighter, I never thought it would be Victim.

to be continued. good grief.

I have to eat before work so I'll think on all this and say more later.

[inksandpensblog]

The Box: some fun notes about the fight in the parking lot

Red doesn’t take a peek outside the truck with the others before jumping out, but he jumps out first. He’s also the only one prepared for a fight the moment they leave the truck; the other three are all looking around and wondering what to do next. When the grays close in on them, Red puts up his dukes while the other three put their hands above their head in nonaggression. Notably, Blue’s hands are raised higher than the others’.

Even though Green had surrendered, he immediately jumps in to help without hesitation once he notices that Red has decided to attack the two nearest grays. Red knocks out his first gray with a punch, then squares up against two more grays but waits for them to come to him first. Green knocks out Red’s other gray with a kick, then immediately takes on two more grays, whom he also knocks out with kicks. Meanwhile, Yellow and Blue stand by, with Blue’s arms staying up and his feet remaining rooted to the spot while Yellow is a little more mobile in his reactions to the fight.

It’s at this point that Shady arrives on the scene. Blue’s arms don’t truly drop from their surrender until Red and Green get knocked out by Shady, which is also what prompts Yellow to join the fight; he moves to attack Shady, and this is when the grays nab him. Yellow’s capture is what finally pushes Blue to move, as he attempt to reach for Yellow; he hesitates briefly when Shady gets in his way and threatens him, but then he decides to attack Shady.

For the remainder of the scene, Yellow continues struggling to escape the two grays holding him. Even when they shove him to his knees, he’s still trying to get away. He manages to get one foot back under him and they have to push his head to the ground in order to keep him down.

Once Shady has knocked Blue out, the fight ends, and the grays begin tugging Yellow away. He manages to pull himself out of the grip of one of them, who then punches him in the face as they’re walking out of range of the security camera.