#striker was adorable in this episode and you know that shit is coming into play now

[this-fine-day]

Bro really had a legit "gay panic" moment.

[weapon13whitefang]

Honestly, I am a HUGE crackshipper and when I started looking more into this new character that just recently appeared in the new Helluva Boss episode I knew that he was going to become fandom's new beloved villain. I just didn't expect for a crackship to already appear. Am i surprised? Yes. Pleasantly? HELL YEAH! A cowboy snake and a demon princess. Who would've thought ~ ❤ (their ship name is Royal Assassin, this can't get any better) P.S. I LOVED your little fanfic, you're really talented and you were able to keep them in character (I don't think they were OOC at all!), but I'm curious. In the future, will you be able to bless us with some headcannons or even a backstory about how they met each other? I just got on board with this ship and I was really hoping I'll be able to see you write more about them.

I am SO sorry it took so long to answer this. Life has not been very slow ride for me so I haven’t had much time to answer stuff or even do much besides reblog and run... But I didn’t forget ya!

First off, I love your icon! Eclipsa is the best. SvTFoE was a good cartoon. I wish the ending episodes were a bit less rushed, but I still enjoyed it.

Second, awww I’m glad you liked my little royal assassin piece 🥰 I wasn’t expecting people to like it as much as they have been honestly 😁 but I’m sure glad others do.

Third, I would love giving some backstory and head cannons for these two! I’m working on trying to write something for how they met actually. A little mini piece for fun.

Fourth, I certainly don’t mind sharing a few head cannons with you here!

Striker often unconsciously wraps his tail around Charlie in his sleep and just when they’re together. It’s a protective thing.

Lucifer is NOT happy his daughter is dating an Imp. He’d rather she date a sinner or even one of the overlords than an Imp. Especially considering how Charlie and Striker met... (Will explain that later)

Lilith doesn’t mind as much and of course just wants to support Charlie and thinks Striker is adorable, even if she doesn’t like how they met and has threatened to take off Strikers head and other parts if he ends up making Charlie cry or worse.

Charlie is very much still a V-Card holder. Striker is not. She gets all blushes and flustered by Angel asking about their sex-life (or lack there of) and when they do finally do the deed, Angel demands details and is so damn proud of her lol

The first purge Striker experiences - since he’s from a ring where the purge doesn’t occur - he stays with Charlie to comfort her since she’s so upset by it.

He plays up the charming cowboy for the most part. Well mannered to the others and what not. But he can still be a manly asshole when he goes out with Alastor or Angel to get a little fun

Striker is bound to a punishment that has him stuck to Charlie or whomever she seems appropriate to take care of Striker. That’s mostly Alastor or even Vaggie. They can pawn him off to whomever they want as well

Vaggie and Striker don’t vibe. Vaggie does not trust or like Striker at all. He doesn’t much care for her so he mostly ignores her. Sometimes - when he’s feeling dickish - he’ll do something to make her mad for shits and giggles.

Him and Al have a deal when they’re together. He kills for Al and they keep it from Charlie. Or at least they try to lol

Striker doesn’t mind Angel’s flirting. He’ll flirt back or just chuckle at him.

Husk and Striker get along well. They have drinking contests.

Nifty wants to steal Striker from Charlie. She sniffs his clothes when he leaves them out for her to clean during laundry day. She’s stolen a few of his clothing items too.

Cherri Bomb and Striker like to shoot cans and practice together. She teaches him how to make bombs.

Striker doesn’t like Seviathan von Eldritch and is a little jealous when the guy comes around and unashamedly flirts with Charlie, knowing they dated in the past.

Striker still doesn’t like upper class demons. He thinks they’re just pompous assholes. Charlie and even Lilith are his only acceptance to the rule, but it took him awhile to even get to that feeling towards them. He still wants to take out the celestial demons and higher ups.

Charlie will sleep in Strikers shirts/likes to wear them. He loves when she does

Charlie plays with Strikers tail and giggles when it rattles, thinking it cute. If she’s drunk, she’s worse and acts like a kid with it.

Charlie being with an Imp causes a huge scandal around Hell. Even if Hell and it’s citizens don’t respect the Magne family, she’s still a high class and powerful demon going around with an Imp

Charlie calls striker “Rattle Dragon” out of affection and a little teasingly. He calls her “Princess” a lot, originally in mocking but then with affection. “Firecracker when she’s angry, and “My Hell Angel” when she’s doing her kind deeds or standing up for Imps and such.

Me and my friend @chocolatemicenwhiskey​ each have our own head cannons separately from one another, but we like to play around and have fun with them. One thing we both like is that his mother is a Wrath Imp - who we named Mary Beth. She’s your stereotypical southern mama. Charlie likes her a lot. Mary Beth thinks Charlie is too skinny and tries to over feed her.

I will be posting another piece in the future hopefully soon!

[theheightofdishonor]

Top 10 Battles in the Metal Saga (in no particular order)

Kyoya-Ryuga 

There aren’t many battles that are just about raw power the way this one is. The whole thing is just so extra, from ruining the stadium before the battle even begins to ending with Ryuga’s possession and Kyoya passing out with a dragon’s tail going through his chest. The power-play between these two is riveting. And on top of that, it’s the closest anyone but Gingka and Nemesis ever gets to beating Ryuga. However, it does annoy me that Kyoya is the only one of Ryuga’s opponents in Battle Bladers who comes out unaffected in the long-term. After their respective battles, Hikaru retires from Beyblade, Tsubasa suffers with possession, and both experience a healthy dose of PTSD but apparently, Kyoya gets away with no signs of it? I call bullshit. 

2.Da Xian - Julian 

If you didn’t love Da Xiang before, you had to after this battle. It did a brilliant job of highlighting how good Dashan is at manipulating people, and doing so “coolly, and brilliantly”. Dashan sees the scene as the opportunity it is and coaxes Julian from a disheartened shell of his former self to someone who’s willing to try again without the man even knowing. Oh, and he gets Julian to appreciate the value of his friends too. And beats him in battle easily. And delivers, “You think you and I are alike? That’s an insult, ” decimating Julian’s remaining pride. Talk about being cool. (Chao Xin should definitely take pointers)

3. Gingka vs 100 (supposedly) Face Hunters 

I had a hard time choosing between this and the battle earlier in the episode where Gingka first saves Kenta from Face Hunters, but I think this holds more impact and the one Kenta thinks is more notable. As a fight itself, it’s short compared to some of the other more epic battles on this list, and its placement is more about the consequences of it than the contents of the actual battle itself.  It’s the moment where Kenta’s admiration for Gingka really cements, and the moment that Kyoya takes a serious interest in him, shaping his relationship with two people who will be monumental in his life. Also, Gingka looks super cool and baby Kenta is adorable. 

 4.  Excalibur-Gan Gan Galaxy 

This battle has one of my favourite scenes of ALL TIME- Masamune single-handedly cutting through Sophie and Wales’s joint special move. Let me just take a second to gush about how powerful he is and how much I love him and how he deserves so much more love and did I mention he stopped the twins in their track with ONE MOVE. Your fave could never but if I don’t stop now, i’ll be talking about Masamune all day. 

The visual of Pegasus and Striker moving as one force, with the music crescendoing only for Destroyer to cut them down at the climax, is breathtaking. Seriously, I’ve watched that one scene on repeat and my breath catches. 

I love to see Masamune and Gingka work together as a team, especially because it’s not their preferred dynamic and it doesn’t always come easily to them. But when they try, they’re magic together, partially because they’re so alike. This is the only battle where we get the full force of the Y-Masamune-Gingka dynamic, a god-tier trio who can only possess one brain cell when they’re together because otherwise, they’d be way too strong. Let’s be real. If these morons actually combined their intelligence, they would have crushed Excalibur to dust. We need more scenes with them tbh

As a side note, it was not at all ok for these guys to crash the festival or for Yu to ruin a culturally important arena. It’s played off way to lightheartedly for my tastes.  It’s not even the only time they’re insensitive- in Fury, Yu and Kyoya damage ancient ruins and Gingka’s group explicitly disobeys orders to not step on a sacred volcano. The whole thing is kinda gross and the Metal Saga should address its serious disregard for other cultures. Sophie losing her shit on a literal 12 year old was funny though. 

5. The Legendary Bladers-Nemesis part 2 

This is a pretty long battle, I linked it to where the battle begins but it doesn’t end until the end of the next episode. There’s a lot about this battle that drives me crazy- like why are you people just letting Kenta destroy himself, why are the strongest bladers in the world who were specifically chosen for this battle unable to withstand for more than two hits, etc  BUT- this is when Ryuga hands over the Star Fragment which is cool and emotional enough to let everything else slide. It’s a pretty satisfying conclusion to the Kenta-Ryuga arc and rings parallel to Metal Fusion down to Ryuga pulling a Storm Pegasus and disappearing into thin air.Which talking about, I will forever be mad Storm Pegasus doesn’t ever come into play after Metal Fusion. Shogun Steel would have been such a perfect time to bring Storm Pegasus back to play and assure in a new era- such wasted potential, but I digress. 

Oh, and friendly reminder that Yu’s Inferno Blast breaks through Rago’s barrier while 8 Legendary Bladers combined couldn’t leave a dent on Nemesis. 

6. Kenta-Reiji

Talking about emotional, if you didn’t cry during this battle, you’re a liar- it’s painful to watch. The entire thing with Kenta using Libra’s performance tip and his insistence that he has to win for Yu- it breaks your heart. Reiji is such a great villain because he does exactly what he’s meant to do- make the audience be invested in him. He’s so unnecessarily cruel, so irredeamable, and this episode drills that into your skull. Even the spectators of the match can’t look on as Reiji tortured Kenta well after Sagittario has stopped spinning. 

7. Easter Island

It would take too long to name everyone involved in this, so i’m not going to. But boy is it a ride You’ve got King starting it off with Chris for insulting/defeating/humiliating Masamune- a noble cause if there ever was one. His impassioned defense of his boyfriend is one of the best speeches/declarations in the Saga and is also 80% of the reason this battle is on the list. The guy has his priorities straight, ok. Gingka says it’s either Masamune’s feelings or the world and King chooses Masamune, no questions, no hesitations. Can’t say I blame him. Especially after seeing the heartbreak on Masamune’s face when Chris insults him. But of course, the world is actually more important so 

 Gingka jumps in to stop King which as Benkai mentions, you can’t stop him from battling by actually battling him, so I don’t know what Gingka was thinking. Johannes’s lackies, including Aguma and the Beylin Fist, joins the battle, prompting Zeo, Toby, etc to also join. Then Ryuga appears and starts draining Chris’s power before Kenta stops him (thus publically revealing their affiliation to the world) and the two disappear. Literally everyone is involved, Johannes tells Chris to “man up” when he dares to show pain that Ryuga is literally stealing his power away but then vanishes because he doesn’t want to face Gingka head on yet. Can you say hypocrite? And while this was all happening, Johannes somehow managed to buy Chris’s loyalties.

It’s insane and so much fun. 

8.Tsubasa-Jack

I didn’t expect to put this on the list but I watched it recently and had a newfound appreciation for it so here it is. While the team battle with Excalibur was the climax of Tsubasa’s arc, this was the resolution. It is arguably Tsubasa’s best battle of the series. He made his recovery with Excalibur, had a practice run with the Garcias, and by this battle, Tsubasa is better than ever. There’s a satisfaction in watching Tsubasa beat Jack with ease. After struggling the entire season, it's very cathartic. There’s this one bit where Jack is complaining about battling Ryuga and how Tsubasa can’t possibly know the disappointment he felt  and Tsubasa snaps, because how fucking dare he, who the fuck did Jack think he is. Again, very cathartic.

Irrelevant, but this episode has some of the best quotes including gems like

 “What is this? A bunch of creepy pictures”; 

“Oh dear Tsubasa” queue Jack asking for a battle; 

“You’re really lacking in the culture department” - Jack to Madoka,  “

The rest of Gan-Gan Galaxy are common, unrefined types”.

 The list never ends. Do yourself a favour and watch the episode.

9. Zoe-Toby-Masamune

This is the only season where there’s no one Final Battle but instead two separate climactic moments- Ryuga and Gingka working together to stop Hades City from melting down(?) and Toby and Zeo  fighting to bring Toby back to normal. 

Unlike the Finales in Fusion and Fury, this one’s private, personal. Not only were Ryuga-Gingka battle and the Battle against Nemesis attended by a lot of people, they were also widely broadcasted across the world. In comparison, Toby, Zeo and Masamune (and Ziggurat at one point) are the only ones to witness the Finale in Masters. It’s a very intimate moment. Their friendship is fractured-Toby's brainwashed,  Zeo was manipulated, and there’s still tension because Masamune left them in a time of need. The two of them are finally confronting just how much their friendship has strained: Masamune never imagined Zeo would resent him when he only ever wanted to fulfill Toby’s wish; he’s almost offended Zeo would think so badly of him. On the other hand, Zeo wrestles between accepting Ziggurat manipulated him but also his very valid resentment towards Masamune. They both hurt each other but get past it and forgive each other for the sake of their best friend. Bey battles are when bladers communicate through each other and in this one, these three use it to find their way back to each other. 

10.  

Gingka-Kyoya

Of course, the list wouldn’t be complete without a Gingka-Kyoya battle. Despite Kyoya being Gingka��s second biggest rival, they only have 3 complete battles with a clear winner. (Kyoya is disqualified in Survival Battle, and neither won in the Championships Team battle or the one in Fury). Despite there being so few options, it was still hard for me to choose because they’re all brilliant and my opinion changes every other day. 

Honestly, I didn’t remember why I chose this battle, so I went back in and re-watched it- SO many thoughts. For one thing, Kyoya sounds like a cheesy bat man villain.  Seriously though, the battle feels so off to me because in this episode, Kyoya is more or less just another evil villain; a pale foreshadow of what Ryuga will become in the Final Battle. I’m not even kidding. This hits almost the exact beats that the Gingka-Ryuga battle will.  I didn’t like this battle when I re-watched it for this post. Gingka and Kyoya’s battles are important because of the history and bond they share and in this battle, neither of those are solidified and it’s just not as satisfying. 

I will admit though that this battle was important for them, mostly Kyoya who was headed towards unhinged-Ryuga territory before Gingka saved him. It kickstarts Kyoya into being the lovable grump we know he’s capable of being and creates a debt towards Gingka which in turn develops into an actual friendship. It’s an important step of their journey and I can’t begrudge it too much ig. If you really want to watch a Gingka-Kyoya battle for non-thematic reasons, though, I recommend the World Championships or the one in Metal Fury Ep 1