#they used 2 be just Funny Antagonist Who's Mean For No Reason. also they were called bitch which is why birch is called that. one letter of

[i3utterflyeffect]

@violetthunderstormokay i'm not putting this all on the prev post because dear god i'm not bombarding op lgsdfkglsgjlfgslkgjfld

but! i've talked about it before (i THINK) at least once. quick disclaimer: i swear on god these guys were around before deltarune. me and mystic were just fucking around with this idea already because what if 'haha video game isekai was fucked up'.

ANYWAY Chaosverse mainly takes place inside a creepypasta-level virtual reality which may or may not be alive (it is and it has trauma because of course it does <3) and... well. B is not originally a moth! He is in fact a player, and ends up... maybe accidentally stealing a guy's body.

the person's body he stole? Hud! And the game has a sense of humor because guess where Hud gets stuck.

the hud. <3

Hud isn't normally that aggressive but between the game trying to suppress his emotions, the game not understanding that anger is also an emotion, and also having no sensation of contact with the outside world, he kind of goes a little bit mad. Especially since he's under the impression that B is fully an adult making these decisions despite Hud actively trying to tell him to get out of his body in the most direct way he can (which is unfortunately just creepypasta style)

Outside in the real world though, B is (approximately) 14 and has a very difficult home life and is completely unaware that he is very very very transgender. He uses the game as escapism from his real life, but unfortunately, at this point sentience is becoming a common thing!

You know who's cusping on the brink of sentience at the absolute worst time?

Birch.

Birch is aware that something is terribly wrong with his brother, but isn't sure what, and it drives them to become really really paranoid until they end up accidentally attacking B (and Hud) with a baseball bat after getting scared by them. Of course Birch immediately snaps out of it and calls the ambulance, but both Hud and B die.

WHICH IS WHERE THE TIME TRAVEL KICKS IN because apparently the game has savestates! i would say the game wasn't done with them but in reality the game has no fucking clue what happened either. it just tanked when the two of them died. that was when it resolved that it should maybe just Stop Fucking With The NPCs because somehow things KEEP GOING WRONG. it hates the styx family so much it will inconvenience them at any point possible.

also even though the savestate did load about maybe 10 years before B arrived, he ends up getting a body, this time separate of hud!

remember how i said the clones other than Chaos and Carnage have no brain activity? they were cloned from a player character, therefore they are registered as players even though no one is there.

after discovering B is also, in some sense, her kid, Jenna ends up taking them in. Hud isn't very happy about this, obviously, but B has become stuck in the game, so a lot more of his unhealthy coping mechanisms shine through, and eventually Hud finds out this is LITERALLY A KID and is absolutely fucking mortified. didn't mention this before but Hud was actually in college so he's horrified that he just. literally bullied a kid who already clearly wasn't doing that good mentally. the others don't know anything about this, and even though both of the Styx twins are dealing with their own issues (mr. 'i essentially bullied a kid who has infinite trauma already' and mg. 'HOLY SHIT I KILLED A PERSON HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD I'M JUST GOING TO PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED AND HOPE THIS DOESN'T BECOME AN EMOTIONAL SAW TRAP' [it will]), B doesn't exactly have anywhere else to go so Jenna is taking care of them. this does culminate in a lot of issues but eventually after talking it out Hud essentially becomes a very protective older brother to B.

birch is fine don't worry about him. he's definitely not dealing with a nuclear bomb of repressed trauma 👍

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Here we go again--

TRIP ABROAD TURNS INTO BUTTERFLY EFFECT

First thing worth mentioning is that the prime color in this artwork is pale blue. I feel like it's quite rare, most of INPLICK arts for Link Click have the same palette: burgundy red, shades of gray and black (except for the whole Surprise Beat thing which is splashed with flashy pink). All but this one:

(probably when they were 17 or sth)

For the sake of the argument, let's say it is a significant distinction to make. The reason is simple: the teaser taking place at the airport and the trailer prove that shit started three years ago, while CXS and LG's graduation trip. If this chronology is correct, then blue probably symbolizes Lu Guang's innocence or happiness. Blue used to paint Lu Guang but now he only sees the world in black, white and red. In the birthday official arts, blue is associated with his character. His flower is freaking Forget-Me-Not; Myosotis.

So yes, that's why I think the color palette here is relevant to the time period we're going to explore in the Yingdu Chapter.

The couch itself is blue when we're so used to the pair sitting on a brick sofa. The cakes and the flowers are the usual shade of red, though.

On the table: red roses in a vase. Petals are all over the place. Ominous. We actually see a roses bouquet in the PV of XETROverthink, held by Li Tianchen.

On the trolley: 1 bottle of wine, 2 CXS's feet, 3 glasses, 4 cakes, 5 individual desserts. The glass half full is Liu Xiao's, since it isn't on the trolley in the original artwork he is absent from. I said it in another post but the plate counts 4 portions, as in 4 antagonists, while the pudding might be Lu Guang's. The cakes are probably metaphors for timelines/curves, clocks dressed as desserts with a red fruit representing a dead Cheng Xiaoshi. V and VI are the only missing parts, just like Qiao Ling's one. CXS put his feet on the trail and I think it's both funny and tragic. I believe the correct saying is "put his foot in his mouth" but in french we say "mettre les pieds dans le plat", which literally translates "to put his feet in the plate" (to say something brutal with no tact or to do something stupid without thinking it through). He has both feet nearing timeline cakes and his head is five inches away from doomed flowers.

On the floor: 1 vintage phone. 1 camera. 2 envelopes, 3 pages of letters. 4 polaroids. Probably: 2 magazines and 3 pages of newspapers. The vintage phone could be relevant to THE TIDES, era-wise. The camera is taking polaroids and two of them are still dark, meaning they just took a shot and are yet to be revealed. The rest must be related to this chapter's plot. So much for holidays, guys (are they investigating CXS' missing parents?)

If you look closely, you'll see four different mentions of time:

Lu Guang's watch (hold this thought)

The polaroid: Big Ben

What looks like newspapers

The hourglass

We also have four mentions of information/communication

Letters

The polaroid: a public telephone box

Newspapers/magazines

Vintage phone (I was wondering why the phone had twelve numbers but after some research, I realized that some of them had # and *)

On another note, I don't know if their hands--

I mean, there's something definitely happening here but let's say for the sake of my sanity that what is supposed to be noticed are the sunglasses. If I'm being honest, this is the real oddity here and the teaser weirdly showed them off?? They're standing out because everything else is so blue for one thing.

They're pink-ish, which is close enough to magenta, so one of Lu Guang's colors (cf. Dive Back In Time). The color itself is weird for sunglasses. Lu Guang doesn't care about fashion, he wants practical. As a girl who loves pink sunglasses, I'll tell you: pink is shit at doing sunglasses' job. CXS told him to wear a cat hat, okay, but did he choose every other accessory?? My guess is that the pink served a purpose in connection with light.

And why is Lu Guang's watch on the other wrist in the artwork? I checked and LG wears it on his right wrist in the donghua and manhua. It can be the opposite for some artworks though... Or blocked from view for some reasons. It's almost as if we're not supposed to know which side is the actual reflection. 👀

Something else is reversed here, actually: the colors AND the pocket of Lu Guang's shirt. It could be a mistake, though.

>>>>> Basically, I think the artwork is telling us that the Yingdu Chapter is going to hurt and make us cry. If we're indeed about to see Lu Guang lose his humanity to try and save Cheng Xiaoshi for the first time therefore destroying worlds, I have no doubt it would be after Infinite Sadness™.

The real question this teaser isn't answering is either we'll go through the original timeline or a rewind. The last episode of season 2 makes me frown. How to be sure that the Lu Guang who dives exists before and not after the events we see unfold for two seasons? Is Yingdu Chapter a flash black or an actual dive itself? Lu Guang seems to be determinate and in a bad mood in the PV after all, could directly happen after one of CXS's deaths.

EDIT: someone mentioned that LG wears his watch on the left wrist when we get images of CXS getting stabbed. (It hurts right here in my meow meow)

[artbyfinnbrown]

Screenshots of my favourite moments from Re:Zero Arc 7 (Part 2):

This raises questions. Actually just one: Why does Al’s authority not work as a child, and Subaru’s does?

Stargazers were much more horrific than I originally imagined. When they’re first described its phrased as “The Stars give them knowledge about the future”. When in reality its “The Stars highjack their brains and rewrite their reason for existing, forcing them to devote your existence to a singular goal at the expense of everything else”. They’re basically cosmic horror antagonists.

Between “The world hasn’t been destroyed” and “Only Natsuki Subaru can do that”, I think it’s safe to conclude that Al has at least some idea of Subaru’s ability. But that just raises more questions WHY DOES HE KNOW???

That’s an interesting thing to say, Al. Why would you say something like that?

SHE CREATED A HEINKEL-SHAPED IMPRINT IN THE WALL LIKE A FRIGGIN CARTOON CHARACTER THAT’S SO FUNNY

Every time before this when Subaru thinks back to people important to him, he thinks about the Emilia camp. Then when he becomes Natchuki Subawu, he’s only able to think about the people he’s met since he entered Vollachia. It’s a small detail, but it still manages to be unsettling. He’s still thinking about people who are important to him, but it shows how Child Subaru’s brain is adjusting what Subaru considers to be important.

It really says something about the Gladiator Island loops that Subaru having to go back further in time is framed as a triumphant moment.

AAAA she worries for him she cares about him she wants to be there for him AAAAAA

Damn, Abel really said “I have no friends” like it was a positive thing.

Rather than try to add my own commentary on this hilarious exchange, I will instead make use of the words of tumblr user Sufferu:

She really just out and stated that that Vincent’s probably gay. What an icon. Also as a bonus, she acknowledges that the fact Vincent’s probably gay has no bearing on whether of not he wants kids. Serena is like the #1 ally in all of Re:Zero. Also “I didn’t ask if you were serious, I asked if you where sane” is a hilarious line.

Alright, let’s do this

(Deep breath)

Fellas, is it gay to help a man get his cart unstuck, have that man ask you if you would die for him, have that man hire you when you said you wouldn’t, help that man become the next ruler of the country, become his right hand man, closest confidant and body double, discover that the man has had is death is prophesied as the first event that will lead to the destruction of the country, (and has planned for this, arranging things to ensure the country has the best chance of surviving after his death), and then decide to usurp that man’s position on the throne in order to take over his identity so you can die in his place in order to deny fate?

Wow, fore shadows. I wonder if this could mean anything’s for future arcs of Re:Zero. Nah, I’m probably just imagining things.

Man imagine only being able to kill Al 6 times. Those are weak numbers. You need to step up your game Todd.

[dragon-business]

Y0 antagonists ratings/opinions

Mister(s) Shakedown(s) + Amon

Didn't get to Amon in Y0, because we didn't finish these quests. One of the few that we didn't do in full, actually. Didn't seem as fun at the moment. Amon gets a pass, because he gets more screen time in later games. 

Evilness: 4/10 robbing people is bad, I heard Forgetability: 7/10 hard to forget, when Amons are in each game Iconic level: friend of a mutual tells me they’re cool/10 memes Free slot: ????too hard to get through to the good parts

2. Helicopter-car chases

These sequences was pure torture. My hands were cramped even when I wasn't holding the controller. Every minute lasted an hour. The fucking bazookas? Infuriating. Worst survival horror game.

Evilness: 9/10 fuck this shit, let me out of the car Forgetability: 1/10 still feel the cramps .__, Iconic level: 0.5/10 “look, just like in the movies, right?” Free slot: 1,5/10 on enjoyment scale 

3. Cult leader from the substory

Pretty funny scam artist, all the later games character development got him on the list. We love us a lil fucked up reoccurring character.

Evilness: 8/10 doing terrible things to vulnerable people Forgetability: 4/10 forgot about him each time until the next appearance Iconic level: 4/10 will never forget that dance Free slot: retirement home for one million years for the grandpa

4. Dojima captain guy 1

????????

Evilness: 7/10 he’s a yakuza, after all, he’s done some bad stuff, probably Forgetability: 10/10 who? Iconic level: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Free slot: forgot he existed

5. Dojima captain guy 2

Purple suit guy with the boxing/dancing ring in the basement was pretty fab. He gets extra points for the drip. Otherwise idk what he- wait he saved Majima that one time? Huh. You keep learning things.

Evilness: 7/10 normal yakuza guy doing yakuza things Forgetability: 9/10 I know he was there, I guess Iconic level: 3/10 purple suit points Free slot: purple suit, that’s all I remember

6. Kuze

First fight with him was pretty tough. And then he just kept coming back, again and again. With desperate determination. And Kiryu got stronger and stronger between each encounter. And Kuze stayed on the same level, just looking more and more beat up. And that's amazing storytelling through game mechanics, but also really iconic, ngl. 

I mean, man rode a dang motorbike in the sewers. He got the motorbike in the sewers, positioned it in the right spot to start the chase (did he get help for that?), and then rode it down there, through the nasty Kamurocho pipes, hunting down an annoying twunk like a medieval baron chasing a boar. All this while already beat up by said twunk. And he gets beaten again. Rolling in that sweet sewage water in his bandages. 

Evilness: 6/10 he’s out there vibing to his own tunes Forgetability: 1/10 he Will Not Let You Forget about him, even if you’d want to Iconic level: 8/10 meme icon Free slot: he seemed like real threat at the start, but by the chase in the sewers he was our pal, our failmate bro, all the respect to his dedication o7; 4/10 on actual fights and smartness

7. Kashiwagi 

He's on the list for what he did to Nishiki. Just sent the brother of his son to kill, uhh, his son. Just like that. Like, I get that he had his reasons, he really thought he was doing good, he thought he's saving Kiryu from suffering. Because of course it is all about Kiryu and what he supposedly (probably) (maybe) needs.

Evilness: 7/10 good intentions on the way down Forgetability: 0.5/50 look at him slurping cold noodles in his first scene, he’s stealing the show Iconic level: 7.5/10, again, look at the man eating noodles like a dad Free slot: 2/10 top tier dad, bless. 

8. Sagawa

He's such a masterfully done abuser. Partially because he acts so nice. But there's always an unnerving feeling underneath it.

He only resorts to violence when everything's gone to shit. But it always feels like he's capable of it at any moment. It's like a rock constantly looming over, waiting to drop.

Evilness: 8.5/10 on the creep scale, very good for the story Forgetability: 2/10 he’s in your walls, he owns your walls, your balls, and your paycheck Iconic level: 6/10 smartly dressed Free slot: 1/10 as a person, would deck him on sight; thank g-d Majima's away from him now

9. Shimano

Smart, playing the long game, but really, in Y0 he seemed smarter than he is. 

Long distance threat to Majima's safety, the threat he has trouble seeing as one. And that's the real kicker, that's the horror of it all – Majima striving to get back in the family, back under Shimano's thumb in his self-destructive last mission quest. Majima deciding to come back/stay even after the Hole, after y0, Majima getting so close to freedom but not being able to grasp it, and rationalising staying near Shimano for years, rebelling, but never separating in full.

And Shimano perfectly understands the power he has over Majima, and is always ready to use it. To break him at a moment's notice, if it will be useful for his plans. And this is way more uncomfortable and terrifying than Sagawa's brand of underlying threat.

Evilness: 12/10 made us start the “save Majima” movement Forgetability: 0/100 burned into my brain in the worst way possible Iconic level: 3/7 fashion sense is kinda bland, but he does have a presence Free slot: again, would deck on sight, but still – amazing character writing, very cool points for Majima’s story

10. Oda

Big oof moment, amaright?..

Such a fascinating character. He's not stereotypical, and has a compelling, layered personality, which is amazing for a gay man in the big hit game. But also. Ooof. Such a big oooof.

But, surprisingly in this day and age, it's not being gay that made him a piece of trash awful man who died. He was all that on his own, it was just his shit finally catching up to him in the end. And the love for Tachibana was actually his saving grace in life, a point of growth as a person (albeit small). So not denying him that, no. Even one-sided, it made him more human. 

Idk if writers did all that on purpose, but these points felt very distinct in the story.

It's fascinating how Oda's character is a (terrible) person first, and he just happens to be gay. But also, him being gay is ultimately important. We played y0 before all the gay shows took over the screens, and this storyline hit us like a train. Can tell you a lot about the state of queer media at the time.

– Me, after we've met Oda: hehe, he totally has it for the boss The plot: 

– Me, after seeing them interact on screen: hehe, Tachibana is making him suffer :3c Me, when plot: .___.

Evilness: 9.5/10 the 0.5 is from his love for Tachibana  Forgetability: -100/10 I lay awake at night thinking about this bitch Iconic level: 1000/5 look at him, man’s shining Free slot: Bidoof

11. Nishitani

Hated him at the start, because he's a creepy cat, because of the noises, and also because of that one slide on the ground with the knife wiggle, you know the one. Unironically love him now, because the world out there is full of far worse people, and he sure did his attempt at surviving it.

(He totally crawled away at the end, no body no finale, I stan by this)

Evilness: 7/10 he's pretty fucked up, ngl, bringing corpses to Majima like a stray cat Forgetability: -10/10 lives rent free in everyone's head Iconic level: 9/10 man's been on the screen the least but made an impression of a lifetime (on all of us, and on Majima) Free slot: yet another normal cat that everyone think is a "mad dog"; honorary Knife Guy

12. Dojima

Organized a wholeass hunt for Kiryu, got Makoto shot, planned a big power grab, put it all on the table… and lost it all. To Sera.

Respecting him for the effort, he didn't let us rest once. Not respecting what his drinking (and other life choices) made him into later, but even before that I struggle to see what Yayoi saw in him. Apart from maybe her being a young girl from a yakuza family that arranged a political marriage for her when she wasn't even 20 yet. And there is a story here that can be very interesting, like, did you know that (according to rggo) at this exact time Sera was a student that was often arrested on protests? In this essay I will-

Evilness: solid 8/10 he do be scheming Forgetability: 1/10 dragon of who, you say? (Kiryu is very much the dragon of Daigo by this point, but yeah) Iconic level: 5/10 dressed good and has big presence, but derails down the line to a total (not hot) mess, so no respect  Free slot: you know, right? Daigo is totally Seras' so- *gets gutted by Yayoi*

13. Knife guy

When Kiryu went through his (and ours) first Long Building™️ to get to the (first) fight with Kuze, we encountered Him. The guy with the knife. 

It was already tough going through room after room of generic enemies when Kiryu wasn't that strong yet, and we weren't that skilled with the controls. And the Knife Guy was the first recurring enemy, a small mini-boss with a stabby knife that would bleed us dry and leave us savescumming. And he kept coming back. Again, and again, and again, and-

Before Kuze. Before Majima Everywhere. Before everything. There was an unkillable lil freak with a knife that just wouldn't quit until you literally threw him out of the 2nd floor window.

And I think it's beautiful.

Evilness: 5/10 man’s just doing his yakuza job, and doing it well Forgettability: -10000000000/10 who could ever forget this man the- *checks notes on the hand* Tomoda Iconic level: ∞-1/10 there is a knife guy shape forever imprinted in our hearts but there is still free room left, because Free slot: in this world only Majima surpasses him, because Majima is, of course, The Ultimate Knife Guy

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[ceaselessims]

“How can you say that Striker was ruined in season 2?!”

Because… he was? Striker started out as a relatively calm, collected antagonist with some good points about how he and his kind were treated unfairly by the upper class in Hell. Then he became an unhinged “supremacist” whose most memorable feature is getting icked out by sex jokes.

Do y’all think people just say critical things for yucks? Why is criticism of a character treated like bullying? I don’t get it.

im going to have to politely disagree. Striker is, at his core, a hypocritical supremacist and always was. In his first appearance, when confronting Blitz at The Harvest Moon Festival, he blatantly says that he and Blitz are "better than most of their kind" and then in the same breath as accusing Blitz of "sucking on a rich pompous goetia" he is working for Stella! Striker is a character who is meant to stand in for the dark path Blitz could go down. He's the cautionary tale, which is why he shows up in Blitz's truth serum hallucination.

Just about every villain in Helluva Boss has an element of humor to them, Striker's is that he gets grossed out by sexual innuendo (which is funny because his combat is primarily hand-to-hand in close quarters or using a lasso/rope, both of which are prime for sex jokes).

i am baffled and surprised at this criticism as a new fan bc he is still a formidable opponent?? he still scared the shit out of me?? He would have successfully killed Stolas had Stella not intervened. He almost singlehandedly beat Millie and Moxxie twice, and he did beat Blitz and Fizz in Oops had he not been held back by Crimson and (in his last scene) been standing behind something Blitz could ignite from a distance.

Just bc he's a little less mysterious now doesn't mean he's ruined! idk it feels a little weird to me but i also didn't wait like 2 years between episodes so who am i to say!! but on a story telling level i can see why they had to change him up a little bit bc it feels like he's probably going to get a back story episode, and they introduced a new "calm and collected" antagonist in Crimson.

i'm not bullying any one for what they feel about a silly piss and fart demon comedy show that is not perfect in any way. i'm just stating that i was surprised at the reception of s2 for *above reasons* but im learning that the hellaverse fan space takes every little thing personally to the nth degree so you'll probably read this as a direct personal attack on you

feel what you want i'm not your mom but gd i can be a little surprised when i really like a character and find that everyone has set the fun wheel on fire lmao

[lolotheparagon]

Helluva Boss is Hella Sexist To Both Men and Women - Part 2

In my last post about HB, I was discussing how the main female characters of HB get shunted to the sidelines/used as a vehicle for the men's character development. And its about time we started talking about the male characters as well. Cos despite how female characters being mistreated is the more pressing issues (cos female characters always have trouble being written properly for hundreds of years because the writers were incels or misogynistic women) male characters have their own stereotypes or objectification that writers fall into. Especially in regards to mlm relationships (OH, WE'LL FUCKING GET TO THAT)

But for now, lets talk about the main guys in HB:

Blitzo

I might as well go into full character analysis here cos Blitz is ultimately the protagonist of the show. Blitz is a interesting character by concept. A foul-mouthed demon with a literal devil-may-care attitude, completely unprofessional, loves his job as an assassin but also craves love and intimacy with others but struggles to due to a history of failed relationships in the past so he hides behind a mask. Hes an absolute mess of a character and I love that. Blitz is not only a good vessel for comedy but drama as well as his self-sabotaging of his relationships with his friends/co-workers can be a great character arc of him learning to trust others again and start to love himself...

HOWEVER Vivziepop just LOVES throwing angst upon angst onto this guy cos it seems that every past relationship he's had from an ex-girlfriend Verosika to his former partner/childhood friend Fizzarolli to even HIS OWN SISTER ends bitterly and it seems no one from Blitz's past even likes him or is on some amiable ground. Verosika is portrayed like an antagonistic ex, Fizzarolli condescends and humiliates him and from what we see of Barbie's view from that animatic, she comments on how he fucked up her life. So we have two women who are scorned at him (one for justifiable reasons since Blitz was an inconsiderate jerk and the other for reasons we dont know yet) and a guy who broke ties with him to be his rival. And its not like Blitz isnt remorseful because whenever Verosika talks about their relationship, you can see the look of regret on Blitz's face and he was shown to be scared whenever he encounters Fizz, like a kid scared of a bully.

Even Blitz's relationship with his adoptive daughter is fucked up, Loona constantly abuses her father when hes done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to warrant it outside of him being protective at a few moments or babying her (and by babying her I mean calling her Loonypoo or showering her with gifts and hugs). Aka what a typical parent is like. And yet he constantly bends over backwards for her and Loona hasn't even learned her lesson to stop being a bitch cos apparently the writers think women hitting men is funny. There are a few moments of them getting along, but its only for comedy. I would say the only good relationships Blitz has is with Millie and Moxxie. But even that's pushing it cos Blitz barely interacts with Millie in any meaningful way outside of co-worker banter and with Moxxie, the only meaningful scenes they share is in the Truth Seekers episode or that little scene in Seeing Stars.

Ultimately Blitz' relationships with others is why he's such a fucked up mess of a person to begin with. While he has a more stable relationship with his current friends/co-workers, the people of his past keep coming back into his life to mess with him and while he clearly regrets how he treated some, like Verosika, others like Fizz, are okay with hurting him for the evulz and thus set them up to be villainous foils. With all this baggage plus his traumatic childhood regarding his father and presumably dead mother, Blitz sounds like a great character to explore, especially with two characters who both have history with Blitz in different ways. And they barely show up.

You see, Verosika and Fizz ONLY appear in a couple episodes. Fizz appears properly (not his robot double) in the season 1 FINALE and his past with Blitzo is only expanded upon in season 2 premiere whereas Verosika had her own episode in season 1 earlier and her only other significant appearance is in the finale. Apart from that, we only get snippets of info about their relationships from Blitzo's viewpoint. WE HAVENT EVEN SEEN A FLASHBACK WITH BLITZ' BREAK UP WITH FIZZ OR VEROSIKA.

And then we come to his relationship with Stolas...and its fucking awful. That image at the top of this post? Thats what Blitz thinks of Stolas. Doesn't look like a wholesome relationship, does it? I can talk about Stolitz enough to fill a bible but to summarise: Blitz' relationship with Stolas is incredibly fucked up and whats worst, its shown so far to be one-sided. What started as a transactional sex relationship in order for Blitz to use Stolas' grimoire to enter the human world to do his job. (the ONLY METHOD HE HAS, mind you) And from what we see of Blitz' view of this relationship, he's tolerant of him at best to annoyed and angry at worst. The one scene at the end of the season 1 finale cements this when Stolas wants to comfort Blitz after the scene at Ozzies and Blitz refused to have sex with Stolas cos hes deeply hurt and embarassed after everything thats happened that night.

(btw love this video is titled Blitzo hurts stolas feelings. Like the scene of Blitz being publicly humiliated by both his ex and his rival didnt happen not 1 minute ago with Stolas just standing there not even saying anything so Blitz is clearly hurt by that but nooooo sad gay owl uwu)

Throughout the first season, Blitz treats Stolas like an abhorrent admirer with how Stolas constantly coddles or flirts with him to the nth degree and the argument shown above thats supposed to be the climax of this relationship's problems isnt even RESOLVED when the second season rolls around, the show just treats Blitzo like a tsundere slowly becoming more chill with someone whom he's force-shipped with. The writers really REALLY want you to root for Blitz to be with Stolas yet Blitz has been nothing but uncomfortable or annoyed in his presence. Look at Blitz' face on these photos on Stolas' phone. He looks bored as fuck. oH buT ItS OKAy cos BLitzo hAS a PHOTo of HIm slightly smiling AFter the two had secks so its all good.

That's not the gotcha card you think, guys. Still doesnt excuse how fucked up the relationship is

The main problem I have with Blitzo is that Vivziepop LOVES to torture this imp for drama with scorned lovers, estranged siblings, an abusive father, a presumably dead mother, an ex-best friend who's now his bully, a one-sided relationship with a powerful prince thats built on coercion and pity sex. And yet the show flits back on forth on making him this lol screw you memelord who doesnt give a fuck to a tragic, broken man who doesnt know how to love anyone and himself anymore and the show doesnt dwell hard enough into the latter. I want Blitz to get therapy already or have him actually learn from his mistakes and the show doesnt punish him for it or treat his abuse like a joke. Ive got nothing wrong with a protagonist who's an asshole but dumping all this trauma and angst onto this character who's already got issues to deal with in his current life (like stalking, his lack of respect for boundaries, saying the r slur or making fatphobic jokes) is just depressing.

Moxxie

Moxxie is by far my fave character for how level-headed and kind he is but cos the writers are so indulgent with their tropes, they've flanderised him into a soft boi malewife, infantilising him to the point he literally cant do anything without his wife picking up the slack.

My three main problems with him are: his status as a butt-monkey, his lack of agency and his co-dependency on Millie.

To start with: he's the most morally upright imp on the team so its only natural he would be the butt monkey of the team, but despite how Blitz respects him enough as an assassin, Moxxie is still ridiculed, assaulted and attacked by Blitz, Loona, Verosika, practically everyone except his wife. And while having a butt monkey for comedy is fine, the show goes out of its way to mock Moxxie for things that are so nonsensical it feels more like degradation than snarky banter. For some reason, theres a running gag where Loona and Blitz mock how fat Moxxie is...Look at him! He's thin as a pencil! WHO THE FUCK CONSIDERS THAT FAT?! And whats worse, Moxxie has internalised this by saying to Loona in the most recent episode that he lost weight, to which Loona looks up at him and ignores him. Why is this a running gag? What is the reason? It feels so cruel and pointless.

Secondly, his lack of agency. Despite Moxxie being the most intelligent of the team and his name LITERALLY MEANS "fighting spirit." he's still delegated to a damsel in distress or be given the idiot ball so other characters can have more spotlight. In the Spring Broken episode, while Blitz is distracted with Loona and Verosika, Millie and Moxxie put up the slack and carry on the mission, but Moxxie accidentally gets drunk and spends the rest of the episode being an inebriated doofus. Little moments like this are funny but there was and entire subplot in Seeing Stars where Moxxie gets roped into buying demo CDs and merchandise from every hack artist he bumps into in Hollywood and its up to Millie to take charge.

In the Exes and O's episode where we finally meet Moxxie's father and the uncomfortable reunion plus Moxxie's traumatic childhood flashback perfectly builds up to a scene where he stands up to Crimson for forcing him into marrying a dickhead shark and yet Moxxie gets struck down in one shot and wakes up being tied up at the altar. So the one chance Moxxie gets to take down his monstrous father is completely negated. Thats fucking weak.

Isnt Moxxie supposed to be a professional assassin? Have him do more badass stuff. Let him take control of a mission or a rescue. Have another scene like the Harvest Moon festival where he intimidates a villain with a DEMON-KILLING GUN. Or that scene where Blitzo and Moxxie take down a bunch of human agents in Truth Seekers. He has incredibly knowledge of weaponry and technology which are excellent skills for an assassin to have, so USE THEM. Where's this Moxxie?

This issue also ties into his relationship with his wife Millie. Even though M&M have the most stable wholesome relationship in the whole show, half the time it feels like Millie is doing the most physical work out of their relationship. Whenever Moxxie is in trouble, kidnapped, put in danger or held hostage, Millie always bursts in to save the day and that would be fine except it makes Moxxie look like some baby who cant even tie his bow without Millie there. That whole wedding crash scene in Exes and O's was all set up so Millie can burst in doing cool badass fighting and save her husband. Why couldnt Crimson lock up Millie and Blitzo too? Well, we wont be able to have our cool Millie fight scene where she murders a bunch of thugs and do a Shrek reference. It feels imbalanced calling these two a "power couple" where only ONE of them is powerful and the other is just the emotional support noodle boy. And its even worse how Millie so far hasn't been in a situation where she needs support from her husband so we dont see that much of Moxxie being a good husband outside of cute couple banter.

Basically less this and more of this

Lastly, it seems he gets hit with the angst stick too, cos the most recent episode was about his traumatic childhood with his abusive mob boss father and it turns out he isnt even dealt with or killed by Moxxie, the imps just rescue Moxxie and fuck off so Crimson can continue to be more of a problem. Yeah, that's exactly what this show needed. More traumatised men having their abuse being completely glossed over/treated as a joke so we can have our precious status quo. Except the rich white guy, he gets his happy ending.

SPEAKING OF WHICH...

Stolas

Oh god, its time we talked about this fucker.

My issue with Stolas mostly stems from two things: his treatment of the people he's supposed to care about like Blitz or Octavia and his flanderisation from a clingy rich asshole from the pilot who is in a transactional sexual relationship with a low class imp to a precious soft uwu nice guy who tries WEALLY HARWD

Vivzie clearly likes Stolas and she's been pushing for him to be a main character since the beginning, but the problem was Vivzie wants Stolas to be a well-intentioned person WHILST being a barely trying father to his teenager daughter and still being in a borderline SA relationship with a commoner.

Now I like the idea of Stolas being a complex character, theres nothing wrong with a flawed but sympathetic character (which Vivziepop is clearly trying to do). Stolas has made mistakes, he's neglected his daughter, cheated on his wife and put the only person he claims to love in his life in a transactional sexual relationship with a commoner imp, whilst treating other imps with apathy or disdain. These are all great things to unpack with Stolas, giving him the reality check he desperately needs (lets not forget he's a privleged prince of Hell and hes always been rather ignorant) so he can improve and be a better person, not just for himself, but to his daughter and to Blitz, whom he's grown to care about beyond sexual attraction.

BUT NOPE! Lets give Stolas a tragic backstory in the season 2 opener (JUST AFTER THE PREVIOUS EP TALKING ABOUT HOW STOLAS CLEARLY REALISING BLITZ DOESNT RECIPROCATE HIS FEELINGS AND THAT STOLAS MISINTERPRETED THEIR RELATIONSHIP). Lets give him an unhappy childhood, a father who doesnt care about him (yes Vivzie slap on another abusive dad to your characters as a shortcut for the audience to sympathise with them, that'll work), an unhappy marriage to an abusive woman, his relationship of Blitz is now established as a childhood friends trope (although I use the term VERY loosely as the two aren't even friends for more than a day) and instead lets depict Stolas' affair from a messy, complicated dilemma Stolas has to deal with the consequences to a triumphant act of defiance over an abusive wife. And dont get me wrong, Im totally fine with Stolas divorcing Stella, it was clear their marriage even in Stella's first appearance wasnt happy. BUT considering how that whole Circus episode was used to make the audience sympathise with Stolas EVEN MORE than the show was already doing, its overcompensating at this point.

When a show is shoving so many sad tragic scenarios into a character's backstory so the audience can buy merch feel sorry for him, thats a sign the character himself isn't very well written.

Lets also talk about Octavia, his teenager daughter who's bared witnessed to her parents declining marriage careening into divorce and while this is happening, we see Stolas making bare minimum attempts to fix his relationship with her. In Loo Land, we see Stolas taking her to a park she's clearly not interested in going to cos he's too stupid to ask about his daughter's interests and spends half the episode flirting with Blitz. After a talk with Octavia and comforts her afterwards, taking her out of the park and suggests they do something she enjoys. Now, I loved that. It really showed how Stolas can put his horniness aside to help his daughter. BUT in the next episode about them, Stolas dismisses Octavia AGAIN cos hes too focused on arguing with his ex-wife, causing Octavia to run away to the human realm. And sure Stolas is worried sick once he finds out Octavia's gone but when we get into the human realm and both him and Blitz get shoved into a sitcom studio, STOLAS JUST GOES ALONG WITH THIS WHOLE SITCOM SUBPLOT AND AGAIN FLIRTS WITH BLITZ LIKE THE PREVIOUS EPISODE OF THEM INTERACTING DIDNT HAPPEN.

With how anxious Stolas was acting throughout the first act of the episode, you would think that he wouldnt have time to deal with Blitz' sitcom shit and spend the day but NO FOR SOME REASON LOONA'S THE ONLY ONE WHO IS ACTIVELY SEARCHING FOR OCTAVIA. OCTAVIA'S OWN FUCKING FATHER IS TOO INCOMPETENT TO SEARCH FOR HER HIMSELF ALL BECAUSE OF SOME WACKY COMEDIC MISUNDERSTANDING WITH BLITZ. Oh sure, your teenage daughter's missing in the human realm but nah l'll just carry on simping for my imp bf cos HEY AT SHE'S NOT IN DANGER.

Loo Land: Stolas wants to spend a day with Octavia but ends up distracted with Blitz and learns to pay attention to his daughter and support her.

Seeing Stars: Octavia wants to spend a day with her father but Stolas dismisses her because he'd distracted with arguing with his ex-wife, causing Octavia to run off to the human realm, Stolas goes there but spends half the episode watching Blitz in a live sitcom instead of finding his daughter and yet is forgiven for being a neglectful dad.

But its okay cos Stolas and Octavia have a big hug at the end (they dont even get a chance to talk about the divorce btw since this is the first episode featuring Stolas and his family after the divorce) and despite how hurt and neglected Octavia felt by her dad, she's like "ah its no big deal the furry here told me dads fuck up but they mean well so im good now". So Stolas makes the bare minimum amount of parenting and he's forgiven for it cos he TWIES. Not trying hard enough, just trying at all. "Cos hey, at least its better than nothing!"

Vivzie, this plus the amount of abusive fathers youve already got in this show, I think you have daddy issues. You might wanna get that checked out.

So, much like with its female characters: Helluva Boss has serious problems with how it portrays men. The man with shitloads of emotional trauma and abuse is glossed over/never resolved for the sake of drama and protecting the status quo. (Blitz, Moxxie) The soft-spoken male being infantilised to the point he cant even fight his way of a paper bag with his badass hypercompetent wife to help him (Moxxie), the father who does the bare minimum amount of effort for his daughter and is forgiven for it because HE MEANS WELL (Stolas), the utterly RANCID fetishisation of mlm relationships with the endgame couple going from a toxic sexual manipulation/transactional relationship into a forbidden lovers romance (Stolitz) and the rest of the men in the show are either sex-obsessed (Chaz, Fizzarolli) or abusive (Paimon, Blitz' dad, Crimson) cos MEN AMIRIGHT?

Yeah there are a lot of perverts, coomers and abusive dads irl. Im not saying Helluva Boss isnt accurate to that fact. But these are negative stereotypes about men that shouldnt be shoved in our faces all the time. I think the only recurring male demon character so far who ISNT a chauvinistic dick, cruel or abusive is Wally Wackford. I know people pull the "oh theyre from Hell, of course they're jerks" to excuse all of this but thats fine when theyre characters youre not supposed to sympathise with like Crimson or Blitz' dad but its another thing when your supposed to sympathise with characters like Stolas but they're fucking horrible and yet the show constantly treats them like precious babus who did nothing wrong, while the characters who ARE legit sympathetic (Moxxie, Blitz) are dumped pain after pain onto them cos that makes good dramatic scenes for Youtube, not a story.

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/lolotheparagon/712718858369286144/helluva-boss-is-hella-sexist-to-both-men-and-women

[springtrappd]

thoughts on dsaf?

oooooooooooo i hope you're ready, because could talk about this for a while

it's a difficult series for me to articulate my thoughts about, despite having hyperfixated on it for a good few months of 2022, because... well, it's dsaf. it's the funny haha meme game that also features body horror so disturbing i feel uncomfortable even talking about the phone guys without giving a fair warning. they're visual novels made in fucking rpgmaker that use and abuse their medium to the fullest, packed to the brim with countless jokes that only get funny the more you think about them. it accidentally landed on several ideas similar to those later in the franchise and executes them in a way that is uniquely itself. it's also got several outright racist jokes and phrases in it, relies heavily on memes & pop culture references that were dated when it came out, and is incredibly nsfw -- all things that make it tough to talk about, and very tough to recommend.

it's easy for me, a white australian, to accept these flaws and move past them, but it makes it an inherently hostile experience for anyone who doesn't have the privilege of being actually affected by that shit. it doesn't impact me directly when a fangame slips in a joke about crime rates in america, but to an african-american person that's a big slap in the face! and that sucks, and i think it's very important to acknowledge that even as -- and especially when -- we praise the series for what it does right. liking dsaf doesn't make you a bad person, nor does it make you inherently racist, but dsaf is racist, and it's only in acknowledging that fact that we can learn from & avoid the same fate ourselves. this is something that will always hang over the series, and it should.

in terms of things it does right, though? as i've said before, a lot of the (non-racist, which is the majority of) jokes are really fucking good. i've been meaning to do a replay so i can collect the best of them, because god are there so many gems in there. i think one of my favourite moments playing blind was the one when i realised that jack always exits buildings by climbing out the window rather than just... use the door. it's got a lot of subtle jokes like that that're my exact sense of humour, and it's when it's doing shit like that that it's at its best.

it's also shockingly mature for what began as a satire of the fnaf fandom from 2014-2016, and the ways it remixed the main series' concepts & themes rewrote my fucking brain chemistry. using "he always comes back" to represent how someone (jack) will always be there to care about those lost? actually genius, i think about it so much when it comes to (c/f)anon's take on michael. everything about the phone guys is horrifying and i love it, i love the way it's set up and 2's slow-building wrongness and the storytime about the originals you get in 3. it's such biting corporate satire and i love it, fantastic take on it 10/10 no notes. henry is terrifying, like actually his voice is so uncomfortable to listen to and the way his scenes are lit doesn't help -- just a really good ultimate villain/antagonist, and a good contrast to dave's wacky cartoon antics. i like how it's implied that the reason the dsafverse is so fucked is because he broke it (reality) back in the 50s. it's neat!

there is so, so much love put into these games it's unreal. have i mentioned that they're fucking visual novels made in rpgmaker? because they're visual novels made in rpgmaker. there are TWENTY-THREE ENDINGS in dsaf2 alone, with two "main" routes that both feature some of the best writing i've seen in a fnaf fanwork ever. phone guy's takedown of jack in the evil route is more scathing than the novels have ever dared to be, and does much more to convey the depths of the depravity that's occurred here because of it. i've had a post about how the game uses colours to convey character alignment fermenting in the back of my brain ever since i started 3, and primary barrier to me doing that is just how much shit is in these things! and, well... it's dsaf -- not only does it feel kinda weird to take seriously, it's also a fanbase i kinda want ten feet away from me at all times?

no offence to you guys, it's just not my scene, lmao. the aforementioned memespam and edgelord attitude combine to make a fanbase that skews young and immature, and a result the atmosphere is... kinda insufferable! general fnafdom is also bad, don't get me wrong, but at least you can filter out most of the twelvies by using big enough words. while i do appreciate davesport and think it's great, i'm not a guy who's into stuff for ships, and i like these games for......... all the reasons mentioned above, which just happen to include davesport, not because of it, ykwim? instead i'm the kinda guy who had dave's "you were lost, but now you have been found" line from 3 haunt him for over a year before it finally hit me that it was a fucking bible quote. to quote myself at the time:

in conclusion,

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

CHLOE BOURGEOIS (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Child Abuse)

1.) Girl was done so dirty… She was starting to develop and could’ve had a redemption arc and then they made her even more one-dimensional than she was at the start, dumbed her down, and the creator on twitter claimed she was never abused and that she never cared about her childhood friend, only his status. And in a scene that thankfully got cut by editors, her father was going to disown her, adopt her sister instead (who is like a “nicer” replacement for her) and pass Chloe onto her abusive mother.

And then a male character gets introduced who is also at first an antagonist with a backstory that gets revealed later, also a childhood friend of the same character, but it’s acknowledged that he got abused by his parent and he gets a redemption arc and a romantic subplot and a spot on the hero team (which Chloe was excluded from because she was irresponsible with her power and revealed her identity publicly… Except he also did that)

This show is about girl power btw.

2.) Chloe was done so fucking dirty. So basically, the creator of the show (Thomas Astruc) created the character in the first place as a stand-in for his childhood bully (red flag no.1) Because of this, any development that she as a character got from the other writers (and it was a lot) got retconned, just because he hated her. Other, objectively much more evil, (male) characters (the main villain!) were portrayed as more sympathetic than her, because god forbid a hurt, abused, emotionally immature, unloved little girl be portrayed as anything other than an unlovable, unforgiveable unchangeable demon. Also she’s obsessed with clothes, shoes and handbags, because she’s a mean girl, don’t you see, so obviously the nice girls (who don’t wear makeup while Chloe does) are better than her.

3.) Stuck up spoiled rich girl is treated as worse than the actual villains of the show. At some point we get a glimpse into her awful traumatizing home life and she starts to be redeemed, but the second something doesn’t go her way she backslides and is suddenly even more evil and dumb. Also her father is incredibly neglectful but it’s portrayed as her somehow abusing him into doing what she wants and he’s so sad about his awful evil daughter. He gets a redemption arc but never actually becomes a better father. She’s seen as unfixable.

CHI-CHI (DRAGON BALL)

1.) okay so to start at the beginning, she was introduced as a young kid but they put her in a super revealing bikini styled outfit. pretty sure it was supposed to be armor too, so besides just being a disgusting design choice even in-universe it’s impractical. but besides that she was pretty charming as a kid, she was cute and funny and pretty tough, and had a cool gimmick in her blade/ laser helmet. even when she reappeared in late Dragon Ball, she was a bit abrasive but was overall rational and kind. she was strong enough to make it into the World Martial Arts Tournament, one of only 16 to qualify.

but come Dragon Ball Z and on, she’s reduced to just a shrill, nagging, aggressive wife and mother. all she gets to do is cook, worry, and berate her husband and sons. her physical strength is only used so she can comically hit Goku. sure its played for laughs, but he’s shown to be afraid of her. I only recall her leaving her house once or twice in DBZ. just the worst mother character stereotype, with nothing left to make her likeable. she’s portrayed as irrational but despite her aggressiveness, half the time her wants are completely reasonable. can’t blame a woman for not wanting her husband to die every other day!! her writing us ass but I still love her and she deserves better!!!

2.) So in Dragon Ball she wasn’t the BEST character to start out with. Toriyama hasn’t ever been the best at writing women or not making stupid fucking sex jokes about them. So she had to deal with that. The outfit she wore as a kid was… NOT GREAT. Let’s say that! Then in late Dragon Ball her entire character revolves around Goku and trying to marry him, which she gets by tricking Goku and getting beaten by Goku in a tournament in one hit. Not off to a great start. Then Z started and Toriyama just… gave her an ENTIRELY NEW new personality, and that new personality was just a stereotype of a tiger mom. Regardless of how correct she might’ve been about letting Gohan fight (and she WAS completely correct, he was 5-6 for a HUGE chunk of Z) the narrative frames her as a hysterical and unreasonable woman nagging at the menfolk and not letting them do things. So naturally people hate her without even considering why she’s upset because the story itself frames her as in-the-wrong. The whole franchise also just forgets that she’s a martial artist and never has her DO ANYTHING.

This is only scratching the surface, there’s a LOT more because the franchise is like 40 years old and we’d be here all day.

3.) GODDDD okay so full disclosure i guess shonen is such an easy pick but like. out of every shonen wife she was and is THE most hated by the narrative and creator (maybe tied with sakura omfg). shes always made out to be a beast, got her fighting skills shafted after she got married, was always played like she was hysterical for worrying about her kid dying in battle, and not to mention the creator actively HATES her. like toriyama just straight up hates writing her. its bad. its really bad. shes just “bitch wife” but for no reason :(

[randomsloredrops]

Random's Lore Drops - Flowey, the Psycho.

Obligatory 2:30 AM post (please help I'm an insomniac I think), so here's lore drop on the flower that nobody really mischaracterizes. That's right, IT'S...

Flowey the Fucker- I mean, Flowey the Flower. Yes, I went out of my way to find a sprite by toby fox that wasn't the exact same, so uh... bow-wearing Flowey lmao. Anywho, Spoiler warnings, so don't stay if you haven't played the hit game Undertale by Robert Fucking Fox. Or, at least, I think Fucking is his middle name. It'd be funny as shi- Oh yeah, I'm writing. ANYWAYS, Flowey the Flower is the antagonist and literally the final boss for two of the main endings (but one of them isn't actually Flowey). Or, well, "two", not including the fact that there are, like, fifty neutral endings with the same boss. Now, if you don't know much about him, he's a psychopathic, sadistic talking golden flower with no SOUL. Literally, he is SOUL-less, and so, he is soulless. That's basically his whole premise. His backstory is (SPOILER-FUCKING-WARNING) that he is Asriel Dreemurr, son of Toriel and Asgore Dreemurr, resurrected after his demise, but this time as a sentient flower due to a DT experiment gone wrong. As Flowey the Flower, his whole shtick is to be as deceiving as possible, acting as a fake tutorial in an attempt to kill you at the start of the game, using you so you can reveal the SOULs as you fight Asgore and weaken him to kill him, using you as bait in order to bring all of the major characters together so he can capture all of them and absorb their SOULs, along with the human SOULs, and finish you off, shattering Asgore's SOUL at the end of a genocide route in order to prevent you from leaving the Underground (since, knowing us, we'd just wipe out all of mankind), and also... well, that's all I can remember, really. Within the genocide route, he almost immediately mistakes you for Chara right after informing Toriel about her cars extended warranty that she couldn't pay since she was in the Ruins and thus sending the IRS after her, while it only takes a whole pacifist route for him to refer to you as such, as he usually just goes and refers to the player as "you" or, in the most Flowey way possible, "IDIOT" in the neutral route. He IS capable of feeling emotions, such as annoyance and anger, boredom, it's just so muted that he's almost emotionless, and due to this, has CANONICALLY murdered the ENTIRETY OF THE FUCKING UNDERGROUND MULTIPLE TIMES OVER, (and somehow people say Asgore is worse for killing only 6 human kids, when, in theory, Flowey has killed many more monster children) ranging from the most random Monsters ever, and despiseable Monsters, like Jerry, or Icecap, to Monsters like Toriel, who is, theoretically, as he is Asriel Dreemurr, but as emotionless flower, HIS OWN GODDAMN MOTHER. His whole reason as for why he wants the human SOULs in a Neutral route is to "become GOD", and in the Pacifist route, he just wants to do everything all over again, from the beginning, back when he and Chara were still alive. Because remember, in Pacifist, he STILL mistakes you for Chara until after you win against him. ...Oh, and remember, UTY isn't actually canon, so canon Flowey (as in Undertale canon, not UTY canon) doesn't know who the fuck Clover is. That's about it.

[xxtha-blog]

I can't really understand Ace's psychology... In the comic he seems to me to be a funny dandy, a bit of a tease but not a bad guy, with a trauma that has led him to do stupid things for reasons who were moral. Given that the comic ended on a hopeful note thanks to Dream, we can only imagine that things will get better for him afterwards... Whereas in the Asks, the commentaries and all the information outside the comic, he comes across as much more cynical, tragic and negative... In fact, over and above what I'm sure is a lack of understanding of the comic, it's a difference in the aura of both that I feel that's confusing me... Perhaps you can enlighten me?

There's definitely a difference in how Ace acts outside of the comic vs how Ace acts inside the comics. A lot of it is the difference between Ace being essentially shackled by Joker vs afterwards.

He really doesn't break the fourth wall very much within the comic so you don't get much of his active disdain of us. It's a contained story-line, he can't interact with creators in real-time. Whereas, on a medium like tumblr or in an rp event, he's real-time talking with creators, and he loves to antagonize creators, hence, being pretty cynical.

His nature as a character is something that isn't resolved and 'things will get better' doesn't mean he's doesn't have like. Fifty different mental illnesses still. In fact, Ace in the comic recognizes this by not saying that things are better, but that they could be better, and in two parts of that, his goal is to 1. Enjoy himself. And 2. Get over what he lost, both of which he is doing in most of the post-AU stuff. When he references his tragedy he usually does so mockingly or ironically. When he talks to creators he's also doing the same. The ask blog isn't that great of an example for his post-Au character given it's intentionally a non-canon and actively antagonistic format, so he's just constantly not enjoying it. A better example would be RP events on discord, which most people never saw, or this really old one-shot I made when I was like 16, which you can read here (it's not the best written but still in character):

This is a pretty typical way he'd react. He's not really overly cynical or negative, mostly just chaotic and quick witted. If he thought you thought that about that, he would be offended, and then he'd act much more positive, just for you. He'd give people gifts and sing funny musical numbers, full orchestration. Do some dances, really bring the energy.

If people thought he was too upbeat and positive, he'd kill a rabbit with a playing card in front of them, electrocute someone, and threaten to burn their house down (whether serious or not is up to you).

His personality is always revolving around his weird way of speaking and general oddities, but he'll essentially do anything as long as an illusion is fuelling it because illusions allow him to do anything. Which includes acting in a very wide variety of ways.

The power of illusions just lets him make the world his playground.

He plays the hero, he plays the villain, he plays whatever role he thinks is something you haven't seen him play before, because he can do whatever he wants (except cliches, they'll kill him dead), and he's going to do whatever he wants, to keep you on your toes. If he's talking to creators he's almost always going to be sarcastic though, simply because he doesn't like them very much. He uses other characters as vectors for his silly hi-jinks, which he just fundamentally can't pull when talking to creators directly.

You can also find a more in depth overview of his personality here:

[fullscoreshenanigans]

I had the funny idea (not for a fanfic but just a idea) of a Spy x Family AU where Yuugo (secretly a spy) adopted Little Emma (with telepathic powers) with Lucas (secret hitman) BUT Yuugo and Lucas adopting Emma but NOT OLIVER? SCANDALOUS! and no Oliver can't have the role of the little brother Yuri even if he could XD

Also it would mean that little Emma has to befriend Norman Ratri and would PUNCH HIM at very first meeting while becoming friend with Ray, the son of a very famous teacher and a very famous musician. (in the manga, Betty's dad loves her very very deeply so it would fit Isabella's role)

Or the reverse, she would have to become friend with Ray and would PUNCH him at first meeting. But no because in Spy x Family, Damian's family seems to not be the very best and i refuse to imagine Isabella (and Leslie) being harsh with Ray when she can love him normally. (ok for Norman it's because "Ratri Family")

So let's try again.

I have no idea to how use Norman at Anya's place because i can't imagine who would be his parents. XD Smee is too old i think.

So let's go with Ray

Isabella is a very famous spy who has never been caught in all her life. she has a mission and has not need to adopt a child since she HAS a child. And a child with telepathic powers. For some reasons? Tragic past? Escape some exprimental stuff? Anyway Ray is her tresor and nobody has never discovered that the most famous spy EVER has a child and who is this child.

So Ray has to befriend Emma, the adoptive daugther of two mens (Yuugo/Lucas) because her fathers (or one of them) is/are a spy for the other side and that anything could start a war. (not that Yuugo or Lucas WANTS it anyways but still, spies don't always have control of the situation)

[I said that i don't want Ray to play Damian's role because his family is shitty and that i didn't want to give a bad parents role to Isabella but i change the story to fit Emma and her two loving dads (+ older brother Oliver) XD]

But Isabella has to pretend to be married. Guess who return in her life at this moment. Childhood friend Leslie. Who accept to play the role of the father.

[Leslie is secretly a hitman behind his musician carrer]

With a spy mother and a hitman father, Ray is super sarcastic. But decide to help his mum as much that he can.

(Will he punch Emma at first meeting?) (who would be Leslie's OVERPROTECTIVE little brother/sister then? Krone? XD) (at a point Leslie befriends Lucas too)

Who would be the teacher who go always impressed by Isabella//Yuugo and Ray//Emma (according of which family is chosen)? Human!Leuvis of course. (Or Human!Sonju)

Like The kids are taken hostage and Ray/Emma has telephatic powers so knows that there are no real danger and are like "meh" H!Leuvis: this kid has nerves of steels :O

a Spy x Family AU where Yuugo (secretly a spy) adopted Little Emma (with telepathic powers) with Lucas (secret hitman)

Shoutout to @yuucaslovebot for the flipped Yuucas take on this AU. (the woke version to the broke NE or RE version).

Also it would mean that little Emma has to befriend Norman Ratri and would PUNCH HIM at very first meeting while becoming friend with Ray

It is wild to think of Norman ever being tsundere toward Emma since that sort of bristling fits more with Grace Field-era Ray (Tsunde-Ray and whatnot), but on the family side of things his dysfunctional and antagonistic relationship with the Ratris lends itself well to the dysfunction among the Desmonds.

I have no idea to how use Norman at Anya's place because i can't imagine who would be his parents. XD Smee is too old i think.

Sleeping on the comedic gold of JameSmee with James as Yor so Peter is Yuri, for shame.

We were never given a definite age for James or Smee, but I think James being dead for 14 years throws people off because we always see him as he was when he died.

(The Promised Neverland Art Book World)

Meanwhile Smee has had 14 more years of aging when we see him in the present.

(Season 2 Episode 8)

But he (and James) look around Andrew's age in the voiceover visuals from chapter 160 and in the side scene where James dies at the end of chapter 173.

Granted, with the way Demizu plays around with audience perception in how she draws the characters in a given scene based on their own perception of themselves and the strife they carry in their hearts to how they view other characters around them based on their relationship with them (e.g.‚ Isabella towering over the children as an ever-looming threat in various low-angle frames, Sonju appearing behind Emma and Ray at the end of chapter 45 as an imposing figure and then becoming drastically smaller and more human than any of the wild demons the kids encounter before the reveal of the evil blood when he's revealed as an ally, Norman looking like he's a mid-thirties corporate lawyer throughout all of chapter 125 as he forms the alliance of liars with Geelan, etc.), these portrayals could be inaccurate. James could be anywhere from his mid-teens to his mid-twenties during Peter's flashback in chapter 173.

But this late in the story with more truths known to the main cast, I'm inclined to believe the aforementioned panels from 160 and 173 are reflective of their actual ages.

Who would be the teacher who go always impressed by Isabella//Yuugo and Ray//Emma (according of which family is chosen)? Human!Leuvis of course. (Or Human!Sonju)

I can't really see Sonju in an overly fawning role or getting wrapped up in all the pomp and pretense of Eden without the hidden motive of eventually being able to hunt the most dangerous game, which would be kind of a nifty spin on Henderson's character, but even then it doesn't really vibe with his overall calm and reserved personality which seems more aligned with Mr. Green during his debut in chapter 39. He's not nearly as excitable as Leuvis, who would 110% give into the throes of obsession with elegance and decorum, either on the straight-and-narrow if you don't have him entirely breaking with Eden's code, or if whomever is filling the Loid and Anya roles isn't meshing seamlessly with Eden culture and their presence is seen as a nuisance by the faculty and/or parents for trying to eek their way into upper Ostania society. The latter allows him to delight in the loopholes and subversions of the current system for his own entertainment that can align more with his canon counterpart if the elegance they display fits with his own personal and potentially convoluted code of conduct.

[bluepallilworld]

Ok, had time to watch one of my favorite Godzilla movies (cause I have no favorite, just a mix of ones that I like more than others, but can't decide which one is my definitive favorite). It was Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, the one with my favorite version of Mechagodzilla, Kiryu(that one figure I got recently). This one is probably one of the first Godzilla movies I've watched when I was a kid, this and it's sequel, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, which adds Mothra. The timeline for this movie is essentially just a sequel to the first Godzilla movie back in 1954. But it's also the 27th(28th if you count the American "Godzilla" movie from 1998, which most don't cause it's not a Godzilla movie despite the name, can elaborate more if you want to know) movie in the franchise. The human story is pretty good, following Akane as she is the lead protagonist, and eventual pilot for Kiryu. Though she has guilt for accidentally getting a few people killed by Godzilla when he first shows up, she eventually feels like she has a purpose in fighting Godzilla through Kiryu.

While Mechagodzilla's origins were originally that it was made by alien ape people to conquer Earth(way back in 1974-1975 at the end of the Showa Era), the second(Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, 1993 Heisei Era) and this Mechagodzilla(2002 Millenium Era) were made by humans to counter a Godzilla who was antagonistic to humans. And this one was made with the bones of the 1954 Godzilla:

(Yes I took pictures cause why not)

Though, this ended up causing some issues when first fighting Godzilla. Because, although its maser cannons in its mouth had caused Godzilla to retreat, Godzilla's roar had triggered some memory from Kiryu. So basically, ghost Goji wakes up and decides to go rampaging.

Oh, also, they transport Kiryu with two special jets

which is for the reason that Kiryu has the con of having limited battery life. He can go for 2 hours, or less I'd the Absolute Zero Canon is used, which takes up to 40% of the battery. So, two hours after Kiryu goes berserk, he powers down, leading to another character, Mr Yuhara(who helped with the making of Kiryu through his experience with DNA-robotics stuff, also a single father and possible love interest to Akane, though it's kinda unclear if they actually do get together because of the sequel) trying to figure out why it happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

Some time happens, the issue is fixed, Godzilla shows back up and apparently is heading towards a hospital that hasn't evacuated everyone yet. Kiryu is released later than when Godzilla made landfall because of the doubts that arose from the previous rampage, but is launched. When they're almost there, they release Kiryu in the air, using its jet rockets to fly faster.

And full body slams Godzilla before he can fire at the hospital.

Much fighting later, Kiryu does this funny maneuver

When Akane is about to shoot the Absolute Zero Canon, Godzilla gets a good shot off and knocks Kiryu down, and the blast of the weapon hits some buildings instead. It also disables the remote control access, so Akane has to go inside Kiryu to manually control it, but first they have to drain power from Tokyo so that they can recharge Kiryu who ran out of power.

But after that, Godzilla knocks Kiryu down again by shooting Kiryu in the back. And tries again, but one of the other jets shoots Godzilla, causing him to shoot at the jet instead. The jet then gets lodged in Godzilla's mouth, which supposedly means that he can't shoot his atomic breath anymore, giving Akane a chance to use the Absolute Zero on Godzilla. But Akane doesn't want to kill the pilot while he's stuck in Godzilla's mouth, so while she has it prepped, she makes Kiryu ram into Godzilla, get the jet out of his mouth, and fly off with Godzilla. She made Kiryu clamp a hand on Godzilla's mouth to keep it closed, and they fly into the water, where she fires the Absolute Zero. It causes the water surrounding the area they entered to both splash up and also instantly freeze.

Turns out that it partially worked,with Godzilla getting severely injured, his chest has a gaping wound and his left arm is limp. But Kiryu is also very damaged, missing the right arm that was holding Godzilla's mouth shut, and the Absolute Zero Canon being damaged beyond repair.

But yeah, I love this movie, as well as it's direct sequel.

If you have any questions, I will gladly answer them. I know I kinda just glanced over a few things that were somewhat relevant, but also could have been a bit confusing.

I forgot to answer oops

That's quite interesting! I'm glad you had your fun ^^

Can you elaborate on the not-godzilla Godzilla american movie thing? 👀

How does that movie end btw, they're both damaged and say that's it let's stop that fight?

Sounds like quite the nice and epic movie!

[man-tittiesmwah]

Xiaolin chronicles is trash. Here's why:

First of all, it acts as if it is a sequel/continuation of showdown. The only clue we get of that fact is the monks ranks, the fact that it is clear that they already know each other and the conversation about a new monk joining in. But then there is the scene of Jack freeing Wuya(why did they change the means of her imprisonment? Actually, why was she a ghost at all? When they show the possibly future monks the hologram of Wuya's imprisonment, there is no mention of the monks capturing her again. And if they did, wouldn't they keep her somewhere safe? Didn't they learn from the last time?). I am sure there are more plotholes, but I I only watched this in 2017(that's when it aired in my country).

Another thing that bothered me is the lack of originality for the characters personalities. Let's be honest, in essence, xiaolin showdown wasn't all that original, there were the good guys fighting the bad guys who either wanna rule the world or rule and destroy it just because they are evil. But it did a great job handleling these characters, that's what makes the show special.

Firstly, Ping pong had no purpose beside being an incorporation of the element wood, an actual element in chinese mythology. That's it. My guy is so unimportant that he doesn't even have his own desing or personality, he is just omi #2 but nice.

Oh, and Omi..... He's my second favorite character in showdown, but I just can't stand him in chronicles. He used to be cute and his moments of saltyness were pretty funny. Here he is just insuferable, he is rude, extremely jealous for no apparent reason, his ego has its own gravitational orbit and I think worst of all, he treats dojo terribly, even tho he is shown to really care about him in showdown ( also, treating him as a maid is uncharacteristic for omi out of all people, he is very serious about chores and is shown to don't like it when people do his work for him).

Jack just became a punching bag, it's not funny anymore.

Master Fung is useless, he dips when the monks need him the most. Dojo crying for him got old really quickly.

That's kind of this show's entire problem. It took things that used to be funny in showdown and overused it until it became annoying.

Chase became just a stereotypical bad guy. I was on the verge of tears when i saw the new desing of his lair. His relationship with Shadow or whatever that was supposed to be was weird af. He overall became the wrong kind of creepy. He used to be the mysterious guy who killed thousands of people, incinerates towns because he cans and wants to, tried to eat dojo and has cannibalistic tendencies kind of creepy. Now he is the "nice guy" you don't want to meet when you're alone at night kind of creepy (that's the best i could come up with).

Where tf is Hannibal?

Why can't i remember one sentence from the secondary antagonists (tubbimura, katnappe)? (not counting that weird episode when jack becomes good and they cheer for him)

Why did they waste Shadow? She actually had potential. I'd much rather see her become her own character than watch whatever tf was going on betwen her and Chase.

Why does the episode "Chase lays an egg" exist?

Why did they whitewash Wuya in her human form?

Tigress woo or whatever is boring, don't even make me get started.

Where tf is Master Monk Guan?

Why wasn't Jermaine the fifth monk?

Why give Chase a new backstory that makes him look even weirder? ( bassically, he bacame evil because a girl didn't want to date him) His original backstory was perfect to show how similar him and omi are, they both seek to be something grand, but want to achieve it by walking on different paths.

Ok, i think this is all, if i remember anything else i'll make another post. Good night🫶

[gaytwirights]

Baw the beheno post, explain /lh

okay so i am going to assume that this is asking me to explain what used to be a crack ship between Behemo and Seth (rather than explain an alternate universe where the two of them get along well enough to be doing coke in a bathroom together), which will get a bit long so yeah

i'm gonna be honest. i started shipping* these two because we were going through the standard yearly 'why plagiarism is bad' section of the school year, and they began occupying a non-standard amount of my brain. then i figured it would be funny to put them together. so here is my incomplete manifesto on dragonmask** supremacy.

[* it's less about them as a romantic ship, and more about them as a compelling duo. sometimes, bitches just be silly

** i'm gonna be honest, i do not remember where this name came from. i think i just saw someone use it on tumblr one day, and then it became part of my brain. but yeah that name is not my creation.]

Reason 1: They are funny

what can i say, they're funny. Behemo canonically stepped on Seth, which is something i don't think a lot of ships have going for them, in terms of canon interactions.

also they really hate each other, but it doesn't feel like some surface-level hatred. it feels like divorce hatred. and that dynamic appeals to me.

Reason 2: They have good chemistry

obviously, i'm not saying that they get along well. rather, they get along in a way that is interesting to the audience.

thing is, they don't really get much interaction, aside from the scene in the hellish yard, which is pretty entertaining tbh. however, it's the way they talk about each other that seems really interesting to me.

for instance, this part from OSS:C, when Seth talks about his creation of Meta

And this, surely, would be a great enterprise on par with the “god creator of mankind’s bodies, Behemo” himself! My “old friend”’s face came to mind. Ha ha…That one would surely be stomping his feet in a rage if he knew about this!

i may be seeing things from a braindead fandom perspective, but it kinda seems like Seth is talking about Behemo with a bit of admiration.

like, yeah, they're antagonistic, but that first paragraph seems like Seth is putting Behemo as somewhere "above" him, seeing them as someone who is more accomplished, but still someone he can surpass. and idk that dynamic seems kinda interesting.

now, obviously, there's the wording of "old friend" (in quotations, even) that is, again, sarcastic and antagonizing, but ultimately still putting them as (vaguely) equals.

furthermore, it's the specific word he uses: friend.

Seth talks about his "friends" as people who can understand him. this theme of understanding (or lack thereof) will be part of another section.

and then, yeah, there's the last paragraph where Seth laughs at the thought of pissing Behemo off to the point that they'd be stomping their feet in rage. little does he know, in approximately 600 years, Behemo would indeed be stomping their feet (on him)

now, on Behemo's end, we also have this part from Fifth, Pierrot

he wasn’t going to tolerate those low quality copies of that creepy mask man mingling among humans, his very own creations.

i'm gonna be honest, there is nothing romantic here, and again, i don't plan on always interpreting these two as romantic. i just think their dynamic is interesting.

come on, tell me it isn't interesting when two people hate each other's guts, but are still incredibly similar.

Reason 3: They are incredibly similar

so let's go over the surface-level stuff first:

incredibly arrogant (for good reason)

creators of men (with varying skill)

one funky eye

looking at things from a christian perspective*, one could say that these two really exemplify the meaning of Pride. to be Prideful is to think yourself on the level of God, to assume that you are somehow exempt from his rules.

[* i go to a catholic school, and we have fucking christianity class. the past four months, we have been learning how to judge morality in a """christian way""" like what the fuck is that???? we really gotta LEARN in a SCHOOL how to judge right and wrong??????? that said, i am nothing if not a pleasure to have in class, and i am getting full marks in morality lesson.]

based on memory (because i have no intention of reading through the whole series again just for a duo manifesto), these two have the most iconic declarations of themselves as gods

“I’m a god. Gods are special cases.”

In that case— I am the god who creates “evil”.

obviously, these aren't the only times characters in evillious have declared themselves gods, but they're easily some of the most memorable, and the most often referenced in fanfiction.

also, there's just something So Interesting about a dynamic where one of the few things we know about is the fact that, at one point, one of them committed theft of intellectual property of another.

i know plagiarism is awful and all that, but it really does make for an interesting story. the theft of what one has dedicated their life to, and all that.

anyway, the funky eye. that's more of an aesthetic thing, but they do have a sort of theme of knowing more than other characters, of being the one manipulating things behind the scenes. one could say that their theme of one funky eye implies their role as the one who sees* all.**

[* "see" as in "knowing more"

* "all" as in "whatever goes on in a certain arc" (that is, OSS and mothy arcs for Seth and Behemo respectively)]

Reason 4: The deeper stuff (oh my god how did i write so much)

they are fake

they are lonely

something i like to think about is the fact that Seth wasn't able to create "perfect" humans. when he tried to make ghoul children and artificial bodies, they would eventually age rapidly, while the humans Behemo made would age normally. for all Seth talks about being a genius, even after years of study, he really cannot get on Behemo's level of human creation.

but the thing is, Seth really is a physicist second to none. he may dabble in creating humans, but it isn't really his field. just as Seth cannot create humans that age normally, Behemo cannot make a spaceship traverse dimensions.

........i mean, they sure came close that one time, but that was less "crossing dimensions" and more "turning digital stuff into reality"

hey, didn't Seth also do a poor copy of Behemo's actions?

and on that topic of copying, the two of them are incredibly "fake" characters. many of the evillious characters are liars, but these two are possibly among the few that are defined by the various "facades" they put on.

it's very hard to analyze Behemo's character without analyzing their queerness. whether one interprets them as a trans woman or a gnc cis man, the fact remains that Behemo's conflicts with other people--usually because they are looked down upon for wearing dresses--are a major theme in almost all of their appearances.

the thing is, Behemo never says anything about their own gender, usually letting others out them as amab, except for that "I'm a man" in The Tailor of Enbizaka. but going back to that novel, Behemo lived for fourteen years as a woman. their words say one thing, but their actions say another.

and here's the thing: in my media-addled trans brain, this willingness to let others assume whatever they want about their own nature is, in itself, a sort of facade. are they a gnc man or a trans woman? there's no reason to say anything.

but in my trans brain, i do know that, sometimes, it's easier to be avoided as gnc than to be openly trans. to me, it's the sort of facade that you make subconsciously. if people are gonna think you're weird, you'd rather not be more open than necessary.

and there's another thing, Behemo's facade of being emotional and "chaotic." don't get me wrong, i don't think this one is intentional, but it does feel like the sort of "tee hee i'm silly and chaotic and there's nothing more to me :3c" thing* that the people here go crazy for.

[* i wish more evillious fans would give Behemo the Maya Fey Ace Attorney treatment, where we see a character who's definitely meant to be silly and kinda sad (but mostly just silly) and then we proceed to analyze the different tragedies that they have gone through and allow them access to the full range of human emotions rather than just "tee hee :3c" and "One Moment of sadness"]

i do feel like Behemo is naturally a silly sort of person, but i do find it a bit uninteresting how people tend to delegate them to the basic "chaos gremlin" role. but i do also feel like this character archetype was an intentional move on mothy's part.

in the scene in the mothy novel, when Behemo reveals both their true identity as the Master of the Heavenly Yard, and the truth of the First Period to Allen, i think that's the most genuine Behemo we're ever shown. in other appearances, they're either plotting something (Fifth, Pierrot) or watching in the background while everything goes wrong (OSS, The Tailor of Enbizaka).

in the mothy novel, we learn about their past, about their origins as an avatar, about the first and second periods, but not about how they feel about that whole mess. the information we get is objective, 'this' and 'that' and 'then', but while this tells us about Behemo's story, Behemo themself never said much about their character.

now, back to Seth Twiright, because this was supposed to be a post about them as a duo, and not just a Behemo Insanity post. sorry for loving Behemo Barisol with all my heart. as if it's my fault they're such a compelling character.

Seth is an easy character to see as a liar. after all, the snake always wears a mask. throughout the OSS:C novel, Seth lies about his name, about his intentions, about pretty much everything.

Seth is meant to parallel the original liar, the Serpent of Eden, who tempted Eve into the Original Sin, and caused the downfall of humanity, instilling in us the subconscious attraction to evil.

except, that last part is the one that feels accurate to evillious canon, that attraction to evil (concupiscence, if my christianity notes are to be believed) would be Malice or HERS in evillious.

now, according to my notebook (sidenote: this is legit the most i've looked at my christianity notes on sin since i wrote them down), Eve's Original Sin was an "abuse of freedom" because she "desired to be like God (Pride)."

in evillious, the one who tempted Eve through deceit is Adam, meaning that it's Adam who has that parallel to the Serpent of Eden.

[EDIT (2024): in a move unforeseen by any of us, mothy revealed that the parallel to the serpent of Eden was Michaela]

now, applying this to the evillious Original Sin makes absolutely zero sense. in evillious canon, the Original Sin is the stealing of the two fruits, Hansel and Gretel, and not the abuse of one's freedom in an attempt to defy God.

however, this context on the christian perspective on Original Sin leads to my point regarding Seth: he's not responsible for as many 'Evils' as he paints himself as. Seth is not a parallel to the Serpent of Eden.

now, obviously, this is because i am a good note taker who goes to a catholic school, and i am analyzing something written by a non-christian, but it's not my fault that, according to my notes, Seth Twiright's parallels to the Serpent of Eden are mostly in the "snake" and "source of sin" thing, and in fact, he parallels the biblical Eve more than he parallels the damn snake.

so where does that leave Seth? on one hand, there's what the author clearly intended. on the other, there are my detailed notes on our teacher's discussion on Original Sin and also the unintentional implications of mothy's worldbuilding.

Eve released the Original Sin, which was then divided into Seven Sins. however, the reason for the sad state of the world isn't so much that Original Sin, but rather the Malice that, from the beginning, had embedded itself so deeply in all the people with the power to change the world.

this all culminates to a certain point: Seth is not the great "Evil" he claims to be, or even seems to think he is. Seth isn't so much a "cause" as a "source".

so what is Seth? a fake creator of men. a fake Horus. a fake father. a fake human. a demon who never does his job. a fake Serpent of Eden.

Seth is a fake, a superficial stand-in for evillious' equivalent for the Serpent of Eden. he's a villain, a Demon, and a redeemed father-figure for three feral children. but in the end, the true "Evil" was humanity's desire, and Seth was just as blind as the rest of evillious' long cast list.

wow, that got way longer than i had anticipated or planned for. the trans shit? the Eve shit? not part of my original plan for this section oh my god what possessed me to write all that.

anyway, the next point, they are both lonely.

lots of characters are pretty solitary, but i do believe that these two, in particular, are very strongly shaped by their loneliness.

i know i've been starting each section by analyzing Behemo first (because they're my favorite <3), but this time i gotta analyze Seth first. it's easier this way.

so. Seth Twiright. pretty lonely guy. in Outlaw and Lychgate, he even says that people can never understand what he is thinking. in the same section he does this, he namedrops Adam, Irina, Eve, Ma, and Lich as people who could have understood him, as potential "friends".

note: Behemo is not mentioned in this section. this is because mothy doesn't see the potential. (this statement is a joke. i would never dream of seriously saying what an author should have done with their work. but i will die on the hill that Behemo and Seth would be an amazing duo, if Behemo were more fleshed out.)

anyway, in OSS:C, Seth says this

“Evil” is like a virus. It spreads, it infects—and tries to make “friends”.

for Seth, to be a "friend" is to be "Evil", to be able to understand him.

but the most important part of Seth's characterization is exactly that: no one can understand him, and so, no one can be his friend.

now, i do believe this is his own fault. in Outlaw and Lychgate, Seth uses the specific wording of "telling what he is thinking."

this is impossible. obviously, he's not saying that he wants a friend who would be able to read his mind, but it's still impossible for someone to always understand your intentions, your feelings, and your wants.

Banica Concerto!! talks about "her friends and 'him'," implying that, even as they travel through space on a food trip without a destination, Seth continues to hold people at arm's length because he feels that he cannot connect with them properly.

that feeling of alienation, of never being able to connect with others, it's something that a lot of us know. i mean, this is the evillious fandom, after all. but aside from that, it's also a sentiment that is experienced by many queer youth.

and so, the truth of my love for Behemo Barisol finally comes to light: i found myself relating to them the moment i finished listening to Barisol's Child is an Only Child.

and that's the thing, Behemo's experiences are, as i like to say, the unfortunately realistic trans experience. even if Behemo acts like it doesn't happen, the fact of the matter is that there will always be that something that makes them different from other people, something that makes it hard to connect.

be it their dressing habits, their queerness, or even the basic fact that they come from a different world.

that, i believe, is the core of my Duo Manifesto. that shared feeling of alienation, of being impossible to relate to. they are lonely. they are fucked up. they can't find anyone to relate to, and they won't end up relating to each other any time soon, but wouldn't it be nice to have someone who understands your loneliness?

thank you for coming to my ted talk, and thank you to my One Evillious Friend for checking for errors because my brain is so tired rn

[knackeredforever]

The second to my post talking about armoured sci fi game protagonist’s and my headcannons about them now is time for the one the only John halo I mean master chief:

First off while this post is about the chief specifically I will also be going on a massive rant on halos lore and story and how it has been (and how I wish it were) handled I’m a halo fan what do you expect.

Part one Johns backstory:

First of all the man who was put on the bottle of soder what’s his backstory. Guess what he’s a child soldier who was stolen from his family at birth by the future sci fi US military who have control over all of humanity .He was forcibly put into rigorous training with other children and were effectively test subjects for a military experiment called the Spartan || program many of the children did not survive the training. That’s before they were all injected with effectively super soldier serum that killed off another huge chunk of the children and crippled many others. The survivors were then given mjolnir armour and sent into the battle field but for what noble cause to fight off a revolutionaries fighting the previously established very morally bankrupt military regime that controlled all of humanity , who literally have their own version of the CIA called ONI who are basically responsible for literally every single shady thing the UNSC do in all of halo lore. I find it very funny that the UNSC saw the fact that people were rebelling against them and instead of trying to reason with the insurrectionists immediately decided to do something even more fucked up than what they were rebelling against creating child super soldiers.

Part 2 The covenant and UNSC propaganda:

Once the covenant arrived the UNSC basically started pretending that the Spartan ||’s were made in response to the alien theocratic empire that planned to genocide all of humanity and not the human rebels they were actually meant to deal with. Now I am not at all trying to argue the UNSC is worse than the Covenant cause their not the Covenant if they win are going to genocide all life in the universe. But the UNSC is objectively super evil and are only the good guys in the bungie halo games cause the Covenant are even worse in comparison but that by no means makes the UNSC the good guys. There’s a popular fan theory out there on how the halo games are all in universe UNSC propaganda and the halo books that detail how fucked up ONI and the UNSC actually are is the real halo canon which is a cool idea I don’t know if i necessarily believe it but it’s definitely a cool way to look at the halo games.

Part 3 Halo 4’s story is good(mostly) actually:

Now gameplay wise I find halo 4 somewhat mediocre and downright frustrating when fighting the prometheans but it’s story for the most part is really good yeah it has some eh parts a lot of the forerunner stuff is confusing and the didact is such an underdeveloped antagonist (when you look into his backstory and parallels to the chief and that the didact is supposed to be a representation of what John could become if he continues to be a mindless machine of war it’s just alot of this subtext isn’t presented well in game) but I can look past alot of that for how emotional and well written cortana and chiefs relationship is in the game and chiefs desperation to save cortana as she is slowly dying over the course of the game and her death at the end of the game is really sad it’s just a shame 343 decided to immediately bring her back and make her a villain and I’ve become slightly sick of cortana as for the halo games where you play as master chief she’s been the main plot driver for the last 4 games. But the main thing that I want to talk about is chiefs relationship with the UNSC in this game cause after being gone for 4 years chief who was assumed dead had been turned into a war hero by the UNSC and simple of human military might he’s become a symbol used in all their propaganda for fuck sake they even made in universe merch of him he’s seen as the saviour of humanity . Since he’s been in cryostais the last 4 years the UNSC has become the dominant force of the galaxy with the covenant splintered and broken. The biggest UNSC ships now of the size of the covenant super carriers that once dwarfed them they even had the audacity to name their capital ship the infinity. The Spartan program now is something skilled soldiers can opt into so they can be just like their hero the master chief unaware of the inhumane practices that birthed their saviour that they now celebrate. Subtly the UNSC is shown to be falling to their own hubris which is a really cool plot point it’s a shame the continuation of which is so badly done. Talking about chiefs story again by the end of halo 4 John is absolutely broken with the loss of cortana with the idea she told him about who’s really the machine her or John stuck in his mind and because of this and the UNSC turning the chief into a mythical figure he can no longer relate to anyone else although I’m sure he could still with blue team. The only one near him at the time to help him was laskey (aka the best 343 halo character) who while not fully knowing chiefs pain does the only thing no one else does anymore treat chiefs like a normal human with emotions and try’s to help him feel better ( and it’s my head canon he becomes chiefs therapist and no one can change my mind on this) and it’s such a great direction to take chiefs character I am by no means saying chief did not have emotions before halo 3 he did , even still the master chief as a character was never that well explored before halo 4 and I would be excited to see how his character would be taken after this buuuutttttt:

Part 4: What the reclaimer saga could have been:

“Slams head on desk” 343 WWWWWHHHHHYYYYYYYY

So forget everything I said because 343 sure did master chief is now action man marvel hero who gets replaced by 343’s cool original oc Locke who have to solve the mystery of cortana’s mystery return oh no she’s evil game ends. Sooooooooo yeah also halo infinite I actually really like the campaign the story is okay I like the banished I don’t really like the weapon but that’s more because of what came before her. I like the pilot and I would like his relationship with chief and how chief helps the pilot get over his fear and anxiety but considering we didn’t actually see chief get over losing cortana. Just him being sad and in denial it would have been better if we had actually seen chief getting over the loss beforehand. But yeah also I could not give two shits about the endless they should just have been the flood again. I would have been excited for what came after infinites story if 343 hadn’t confirmed that there was barely any story dlc planned yyyyyyaaaaaayyyyy:(.

So what would I have done very simple make the UNSC the bad guys. Halo 5 would have been about chief trying to re adapt into society and the new UNSC military with help from laskey. Goes on mission with blue team to alien ex covenant planet to find out that the UNSC are subjugating the planet for its resources exactly like the covenant. He and blue team goes rogue as due to no larger threat to take chiefs attention away from the UNSC’s crimes. He realises this time he’s not fighting for humanity but for an authoritarian military empire. That would be the basic plot of halo 5 for me you could have the UNSC send Locke after chief. Have chiefs meet up with the arbiter again introduce the banished in halo 5 but not as powerful as they are to become in infinite cortana does not come back but chief would still have flashbacks to her. The guardians could instead be something the UNSC try to use to tighten their grip on the galaxy which chief has to stop and upon doing cripples the UNSC setting into motion the events of infinite. Also maybe bring the didact back maybe if I have the time I’ll write a full plot synopsis of my ideal halo 5 but until that I’m about done writing this and it’s making me sad about halo again so bbbbbbbyyyyyyyyeeeeeee.

[ashley-slashley]

Strange Days

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Summary: you enter your apartment one day to find an artifact on the floor, and a strange man sitting at your table. strange days have found you, but jim morrison is no where to be found

Rating: M/Mature

Warnings: language, some violence, long paragraphs

A/N: unfinished overall story. i transferred this from my ao3. enjoy!

Chapter 1: Strange Days

Ages ago, I don’t remember when or how, maybe it just appeared in my home, I don’t know, but an oversized Russian nesting doll and ornate vase have just been sitting in the living room/kitchen/dining room of my apartment for a day or so. I have the memory of a potato, get used to it. I’m tempted to just sell the vase and make maybe like $5 off it, but something about it is intriguing. The doll, however, is just cursed looking and kinda funny - it has some furious looking rich guy on it. This guy is wearing a fedora and a large coat, a tie accented with a large spider, and just has his hands folded over another on top of a cane. If I had money, I’d wanna dress like this guy, he could be the antagonist opposing Humphrey Bogart in a nineteen forties noir. He looks like if I stared into his eyes too long, two bolts of lightning would be shot from his eyes and land directly into my own, and I’d probably be possessed by him. Even if this probably has a large sum of money the IRS would have me assassinated for, I have no intention of opening it, not just because it may possess me but also I think it’s just neat.

Just like those chain letters from the early days of the internet, something had to go wrong, and I wish it were me who accidentally knocked down that doll. When I entered my apartment, my cat meowed at me more than she usually does, an adorable way to be welcomed home but there was something odd about the environment. Maybe I’ve seen too many seventies horror movies centered around home invasion, maybe my apartment is having a carbon monoxide leak for some reason, who knows. My cat led me to the display of my assorted knickknacks to see not only the doll’s outermost shell gone, not only a bunch of roaches, but more importantly and bizarrely, a tall man at the table. The man looked almost exactly like who was on the shell, however he’s apparently not cursed looking in the flesh. “I see your little friend here has free-”, “WHAT THE HELL, MAN” I tried to keep my voice low enough so my neighbors won’t think I’ve finally lost it, “I woke up today to a clean house, and now I have a goddamned cockroach infestation, and the cat isn’t even eating any of them!” I look to see my cat just playing with the roaches. “Do you have any idea how pissed my landlord will be if he knows about this? Fuck, do you even know how much it costs to get these bastards exterminated?!” my arms flailed around like a conspiracy theorist’s, suddenly I was thrown against a wall, wrists restrained by a pair of knives that were also thrown against the wall, it doesn’t help that this man looks like a whore.

“When am I?” he calmly asked, I don’t want to say that he was devouring my soul just by staring into my eyes, but that’s what it feels like. “When are you what? I think you mean-”, “No, you idiot, when in time am I?” he leaned his head into mine and left an inch of space between our faces. “Oh” I looked towards the floor, and back at him, “you see, hold on, what’s your name?”, “Horvath”. I couldn’t help but smile and giggle, this guy is living his life looking like a  and his name is literally “Whorevath? You even kinda dress like a whore, why does this make sense?” I lost it, “this dude’s name is Whorevath, imagine being named Whore-DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK?” he hit one of my legs with the jewel end of his cane. “What happened to it?” he asked bluntly. My brows, knitted, I looked down and looked at him again “what do you mean?” I asked. He hit me again “the ring”. “Look, buddy, I’m not going to tell you anything if you keep hitting me, I can get you hitting me out of irritation of me poking fun at your name since you look like you stepped off of the set of a nineteen thirties drama, no offense to the men in those movies who didn’t abuse women, but that’s besides the point.” In response he dropped the cane to the floor and focused on me. He once again asked me about a ring, “the only rings I have are in one of two jewelry boxes, and they’re in my room. And I highly doubt you mean any rings from the thirties, the forties, or the fifties, well considering how you dress, I have like one or two rings from the thirties, and they belonged to my grandma.” Horvath let me down, and made his way to my bedroom.

He made his way to my tall dresser, opened all the drawers of the small yet tall brown jewelry box decorated with a stained glass flower. Top drawer held a pair of Vulcan/Romulan (or elf) ear prosthetics, a Starfleet insignia key chain, a necklace an old friend of mine made for me, and two cat figurines. Second drawer held the only rings I remember having, a small piece of turquoise embedded in probably a silver ring, my grandma’s class ring from nineteen thirty eight, and a ring with miscellaneous gems embedded in it. “Are you sure these are the only rings you have?” Horvath pondered, “keep looking, I hardly look through my jewelry, do I look like I ever have any occasion to wear any of it?”. Next drawer: two watches, clip-on earrings from the thirties to the fifties (they used to be classy and stylish, I know, this concept should be brought back), and a pink rose brooch. Still no ring.

“What does it look like?” I asked, he said it has a dragon on the top. “Yeah, no, I don’t think I have any dragon rings, but you can keep looking if you want.” I shrugged. Bottom box, just assorted necklaces, oof. After moving the knickknacks on my beige jewelry box, also probably from the thirties (maybe fifties, who knows), to my dresser, he attempted to open it. “The key for it is in a blue ring box in that compartment with the door in the brown jewelry box.”, instead of doing what I recommended, he used his cane to somehow pick the lock. “You have quite the collection” he remarked, “thanks, I decided to inherit what I wanted when I was in high school, well over a decade after she passed. However, the Star Trek earrings and cat earrings were gifts to me. Then again, most of the Star Trek stuff I own were either bought by me or gifts. The rest of my grandma’s jewelry, however, belongs to my mom in a tall jewelry box, and uh, I don’t recall seeing anything dragon related in it, not even in my mom’s stuff did I see anything dragon related.” I explained. I gave up, just thinking all I had in there were earrings and necklaces, he glared at me. “So, I was right, I don’t have anything dragon related in my jewelry collection.” I cheerfully said, even though I was being pinned to the wall with my own knives.

He began looking around, and then at me, “I’ve read enough smut to know where this is going” I stared at the ceiling. “You know, I can hear your thoughts”, "for the record, never read my thoughts." I just blinked at him. “What do you need this ring for anyway? Don’t tell me it’s for world domination, I’ve seen that one before, and I don’t think you’d be cool with a ragtag team of characters beating the shit out of you. That would be kinda funny though,” I giggled, “imagine stepping out of the 1930s and immediately getting your ass kicked by some hippies, an old guy, and tall” I was cut off as my eye mask was forced into my mouth. First it was the knives, now it’s my sleeping mask, “you got the mask on the wrong place, asshole” I was muffled behind the fabric. I would think something, but I’m not jinxing this.

“Since my previous apprentice failed Morgana and I, you’ll have to do for a last minute apprentice.” he looked into my eyes. “So, uh, who’s this Morgana?” I asked, he gave me a crash course on the lore of them. Basically, Morgana was Merlin’s arch nemesis who in a way said ‘fuck this shit, and fuck you’ and has the opposite perspective on sorcery that Merlin had, as well as Merlin himself. Morgana wanted to do her own thing and be an individual sorceress, as well as destroy Earth, fair enough. I don’t blame her, especially seeing how civilization as a whole has gone to shit in the past century. You can guess that Merlin was into using sorcery for the life longevity and prosperity of the human race, obviously they’re doomed to be enemies. While Merlin and Morgana were dueling, Horvath stole a page from Merlin’s book - specifically the page about this all powerful spell known as “the rising”. Then the other student of Merlin, Veronica, ingested the soul of Morgana, and she herself was turned into a Russian nesting doll, just like Horvath was, and now the other apprentice, Balthazar, is also on a mission but to stop Horvath from enslaving and genociding humanity. “So, you’re telling me that my favorite horror franchise is real ? We got an ancient book that I doubt was bound in human flesh and inked in blood, ancient incantations, enslaving humanity, and an army of the dead. And tragically the guy that plush over there on my bed is based on, as well as that figurine on my windowsill, and that cross stitch piece on my beige jewelry box, Ash by the way, isn’t going to fall from the heavens, find you, kick your ass, and save humanity. Goddammit.” I said in a disappointed manner, all the while Horvath stared at me. “Will you help me?” he asked, having nothing better to do with my mundane life, I accepted.