#hullabaloo lore

[incorrectklavekatz]

The double standards between Mike and Joker is lowkey insane, I will never be able to trust people who love Joker and hate Mike cause every time you ask them why they hate Mike they’ll come back with “he shouted at Violetta!” First of all, he apologised later, and he only shouted in the first place because she was talking about something directly related to his trauma, second of all, and I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this, Joker MURDERED Violetta, how are you gonna hate Mike for SHOUTING when he was overwhelmed then turn around and love Joker when he murdered the same person you hate Mike for mistreating?

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Joker and think he’s incredibly interesting, I just hate this argument. “Mike ignored the abuse going on in the circus!” Mike was being abused himself and didn’t realise it because he doesn’t know anything else, as soon as he realises they were suffering, he kills himself, I truly don’t understand the reason for all of the hate towards him recently.

“He’s so rude!” Well yeah…he’s been the centre of attention his ENTIRE life, sure he’ll come off as arrogant, but he’s more just sassy than rude? He canonically hates rude and violent people, why would he act in that fashion for any reason other than the fact his entire life was just burnt to the ground? I just don’t understand the sudden influx in pure Mike hate recently.

[teatraps]

Been driving myself insane trying to figure out what the other 2 perfume bottles are, somebody HELP ME!

My best guess for the 3rd one is that it’s like an inverse to regular Euphoria that brings memories back. Margie brings up that the perfume has a damp smell and when she starts to hallucinate about her past she’s floating in water. Also from a symbolic standpoint, Margie is always trying to run from her past so since she disliked the scent of the 3rd perfume it could be an indication that she also dislikes the smell that takes her back to the past. And lastly, with her past at lakeside, a damp smell would be familiar to her and also something she dislikes and wants to escape cause she hated her life there.

As for the first one, I don’t even know. I genuinely have no clue what that could possibly be. I know lily of the valleys have really positive meanings and I know Margie liked it, but I haven’t got any idea what that could mean. Vera brings up a reeky floral scent of a lily in her 2nd letter so that could be something but I really don’t know.

The middle one is obviously Euphoria. Iconic purple bottle and everything. Could even go further and say the scent of “wood burning” is symbolic for Margie and escaping her past with the fire from the circus. Could also be that fire has the ability to completely destroy something and turn it to ash with no trace of what it used to be. To top it all off, when Margie starts stressing she immediately goes for this bottle because it relaxes her. This is also why I’m hesitant to say that it was Euphoria that caused her hallucinations in the room. Euphoria has always been tied to relaxation and taking away painful memories so unless there’s a drawback to Euphoria that brings memories back in full force (which we haven’t seen any mention of as far as I know) I don’t think Euphoria caused it.

Going back to my theory about the 3rd bottle, I wonder why Vera would make something like that in the first place. Vera wants to escape her past, so why make a perfume that brings memories back? Also, damp smells aren’t all that pleasant in general and Vera has a particularly sensitive nose so I can’t imagine her wanting to make that. My best guess to that is it could be a character arc thing. Her 5th letter already mentions this whole mission to erase her memories thing isn’t fulfilling her. Maybe she turns around and makes a perfume to bring her memories back since her portrait does say her true nature is “opposite of what she once fantasized about.”

I could even tack on the fact Vera acts way different from how her deduction model theorized she would. Making a perfume that brings memories back could be a part of that since Orpheus might’ve underestimated her ability to face her past at some point and even go as far as to use the provisions he gave her to break out of the plan set for her in the deduction model for game 5 (small reference to Judith the dove using the key Murro gave Vera to trap her and turning it around to liberate herself and the other actresses)

I don’t know, I’m scraping for game 5 scraps in an event that has almost nothing to do with them and I know game 5 isn’t getting an event like this until I’m probably a junior in college (being generous). I am desperate.

[circus-blades]

headcannon nationalities for your idv favs?

they're all brazilian

[mintytealfox]

You're probably mentioned this before but who are some of your favorite Hunters, minus Fool's Gold, and what small headcanons do you have for them?

Hehehe

GOSH I NEED more hunters that can 'snipe' like FG cannnn then I would have more favorites to play LOL

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but I appreciate Soul Weaver's ability to shoot webs out so I like playing her as well cause of that lol and now I love and appreciate her even more after the Hullabaloo story ;; -I WEEEEEPPPP- She is too pure and hard working for the world orz put her heart and soul into everything she did and it still wasn't enough (boi do I resonate with that orz) but she didn't let any of that get her down and she went out continuing to DREAM!! I JUST I CANNNNTTTTTT 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

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I also play as Nightmare and practice with him so I can always have a back up hunter when FG is blocked pff I am likely rusty now but getting a 4k with him in ranked after getting memed on (I am putting it nicely they were actually extremely rude and saying inappropriate things and stuff I do not care to repeat) in prematch. the silence afterwards was glorious. Like I don't get mad and lock in often, so honestly kudos to them for pulling it off PFF But I LOVE plague doctor vibes and the ability to just APPEAR places AH I LOVE BUT the worst part is getting stuck kiting the same person orz he is an easy one to get stuck with if you aren't on it and unable to outsmart the survivor aahh Which I think is a good metaphor for him like when he gets laser focus on one person 'Alice' he fails. Its when he is making many pieces dance and run that he thrives.

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I LOVE the look of Hullabaloo and Nightwatch, I haven't played them yet

but Nightwatch's story is so tragic and the probable reason he wears that mask HURTS ME (the theory that he hides his face cause he has the same face as his mother's tormentor orz AND the thought that he could be 100s of years old goes so hard 👏👏👏👏 AH)

Then Hullabaloo being Mike finally realizing what life was really like at the circus//taking off his blinders that kept him in his beloved fantasy aahh orz

[ruins75]

Hi

[ferret-does-stuff]

I spend weeks obsessing over Florian... making theories about him and saving so i can get him.... only for netease to bring out Evelyn and Richard....

(When we get more info I will be obsessing over both of them)

[veryaren]

I screen recorded this on my phone with shaky hands. IM FEEAKING. (I'll record a better version. WIYHOUTVmy accidental volume button press later)

(otger update related rambles under the cut)

ALICE IS SO CUTE ALSO. HY FAR MY FAV DEDUCTION STAR. TIED CLOSE WITH COMPOEER. SHE'S SO PRETTY. HONESTLY I WAS DOUBTING HOW WELL THEY COULD PULL THE THEME OFF BUT THEY GOT IT!!!!!

this fucking freak. he's so gross (I love him anyway)

it's about what I expected! THE STAR ON THE EYE IS GREAT! COOL AS HELL TOO. hair threw me off but he's growing on me. reminds me of the candy queen from fionna and cake. this fucker has SPRING LOADED action. Be afraid

she so cute also. vio voice and face is adorable. CALL ME A GLAZER OR WHATEVER BUT I GENUINELY LOVED THIS VIDEO. I hope they don't game 3 this and make the story line weird. MURRO'S BIT MADE ME SO SAD. hullabaloo brother content please please please please. I am a sucker for sad familial tropes. love how hard you can hear Mike tweaking. He is NOT playing abt the fire bro. HOPEFULLY PEOPLE WILL TAKE HIM MORE SERIOUSLY AFTER THIS. I love that thabg

[numberonemargarethazellefan]

I think that hullabaloo is a perfect representation of how people respond differently to abusive situations.

I understand that not everyone’s gonna be caught up on the previous lore or they might not know and that’s alright, but I remember when act one came out that everyone was so shocked when they would be like loving joker and people in the replies would be like “oh he killed Violetta” and theyd be genuinely baffled??

I also see a lot of people saying that Mike is bystander and that he didn’t go through anything hard and I also think that’s false ? Ive seen literally one person besides myself talk about his dynamic with bernard. I absolutely believe something was wrong in that dynamic, and mike still viewing him as this good guy is such an interesting direction, I think him viewing Bernard in such a positive light is such an interesting choice on how to represent things, especially when such an abusive relationship was present people who still view their like abusers fondly is not uncommon and I think that it was interesting that they represented that

Joker- no comment ive nothing to add. You know what you did

MARGIEEE AUGH the river leading back to lakeside :(

Margie and her letters are probably one of my favorite parts of the entire game, especially how she talks about other people

She tried so hard in every way to get out of her situation and I wish she did, netease when I get you

How it was clear that joker knew she was lying and trying to manipulate him because she's so so so so bad at it yet he just fed into it because he liked her oh my

Goddddddd

I think mike is always in this deep state of denial, he is stuck on a memory that never existed. I see his fans defend him for the wrong reasons and never touch on the things I mentioned, Ive cared for this little freak for 5 years, hes so interesting and time and time again its so amusing to see how wrong his fans talk about him.

Violetta is written so interestingly, honestly I was expecting her to be a bit more bold but I still love the direction they went with, I think everything played out so well.

Every single one of these worms deserve better

[iiannabxth]

i feel like identity v players lack media literacy and it SHOWS.

hullabaloo lore just dropped and it was totally amazing, but seeing a lot of the reactions to the characters (joker specifically) have got me tweaking out.

joker is definitely the antagonist of this group, but, what i think is the most important aspect of this story is that none of the characters are evil.

i will say this now and again and again: JOKER, like all of the other hullabaloo characters, IS A VICTIM!!

should he have killed violetta?? absolutely not. he was so horrible to her omg. does it make him evil? also no.

joker is a product of his circumstances. he’s been mistreated and looked down upon his entire life. he’s literally worked in the circus since he was a baby. then, he fell in love with natalie/margarethea, who was married to sergi, the man who basically ruined his career by upstaging him. if he didn’t already feel inferior enough, the man who had everything that joker wanted literally burned joker’s face for trying to stop him from abusing his wife??

he crashes out and has a major psychotic break, which leads him to burn down the circus- a place that he, and literally everyone but mike, hated.

should he have latched onto margaretha? probably not, as girlie was going through it. do i think genuinely he loves her? yuh, def. i think they could’ve been so cute if sergi hadn’t totally ruined their lives.

anywho. the same goes for mike and marg really. they’re all traumatized. trying to judge any of the hullabaloo characters, or any IDV characters, by a black/white scale is meaningless because the point is that they all end up at the manor for a reason.

[incorrectklavekatz]

Does anybody else feel as though the new hullabaloo lore in story mode has made people forget that Mike was also mistreated at hullabaloo?

Like have we just forgotten about Mikes relationship with Bernard? Him calling his supposed father darling? Viewing being shouted at as a positive thing? Everything?

Everything about his deductions SCREAMS that he was groomed by Bernard to believe what he said was happening in the circus, he was raised there BY Bernard and knew nothing outside of the circus, YES he knew about the others suffering, but he was also suffering, he just hadn’t been given the resources to process that and why the others aren’t coping with it the same way he is.

He very clearly cares deeply about the others, he is not perfect in any way, and I am not excusing how he disregards the others pain because he loves hullabaloo, but I think it’s important to remember WHY he feels he’s in the right for ignoring their suffering, because it makes his actions make a lot more sense when you consider that he doesn’t actually know any different.

[the-toybox-sys]

is this hullabaloo circus lore

[le0sh]

《HULLABALOO LORE》

I had this project actually stranded in my gallery weeks after the final chapter of hullabaloo dropped, I was lowkey hesitant to post this and I still am! This was originally gonna be a tiktok post but I decided to just post it here 😓 it was def smth that looked better in my head and the end result didn't look really great, but this was kind of an attempt of getting out of art & editing block at the time so yk!

[akuma-tenshi]

so the new hullabaloo lore teaser, huh??

[a-thirst-for-dunmer]

*banging pots and pans together*

The entirety of the Dunmer race lore is really queer coded to me and i wanna talk about it after getting into psych majoring

Veloth and the pilgrimage of Chimer to Resdayn feels like a trans allegory, of shaking off your born self and becoming what you want to be

Azura’s cursing of the Chimer into Dunmer is also a trans allegory, except to me it’s more reminiscent of gender dysphoria and of then accepting that yeah, your body will never be cis but it is you and that’s ok. Much in the same vein, the transition into the Dunmer race was a long and difficult one for many, but they eventually accepted their new appearance.

The Tribunal’s BLATANT representations of gender: Almalexia as female, Sotha Sil as male, and Vivec as intersex/nonbinary or any other gender not usually recognized by governments

The several Dunmer houses can and should be compared to different sexualities, i claim Hlaalu for the bisexuals because i can

Dagoth Ur is a fabulous homo. Look at his nails

The brothers-in-arms homoeroticism of Indoril Nerevar and Voryn Dagoth

Worshipping the goddess of the stars and dusk…astrology bitches we rise

Gravitating towards a less favorable faith because it is what feels right to them; Daedra compared to witchcraft, Aedra compared to exvangelical hullabaloo

Fire resistant because they’re already flaming honeyyyyy

The potential to be heavily distrusting of others because you don’t know who is safe, everyone coming out is like a Dunmer having an average conversation with an outlander

If there’s anything else you wanna add, keep piling! I love the meta!

[pinawashere]

Started playing Idv again cuz I heard abt the hullabaloo event (I was obsessed with the hullabaloo lore two years ago)

[nightwonder7]

What are your thoughts on the new Hullabaloo content?

AAaaaahhhh sorry it has taken me so long to get to these asks! 😭 I've been too eepy to properly articulate any replies ;u;

The short of it, it was so good!!! O0O I liked the story a lot more than I expected. Like gosh, the writing, the presentation, the animation, the voice acting (Joker's performance at the tent gave me chills)! Everything was so impeccable and much more than I thought it would be :0 Certainly a breath of fresh air and an upgrade from the diary stories of game 4 and 9 (I wouldn't mind at all if the devs revisited those with the same caliber as Closing Night 👀 at least it seems all the stories from now on will be presented this way)! While character and essence trailers tend to be very poetic and ambiguous, Closing Night was pretty straight forward in the plot, which was really nice.

The characters themselves and their dynamics were probably the most striking to me. It's one thing to read the lore through letters and deductions, but seeing the characters actually perform in real time gives more insight and adds layers of depth and complexity that are hard to perceive through other formats. Even the little things; the way they speak, their demeanor, their body language, how they act towards each other in different situations... Like how Mike tends to use grandiose gestures while he speaks, or how Violetta talks with such softness and meekness in her voice (she is definitely the kind of person to apologise if someone else were to step on her toes... okay, bad analogy, but you get what I mean gfhjgdg). It's these details I'm so grateful to have witnessed in these characters. (Emphasizing that these characters come from a media where most of the lore is tucked away in written documents that a lot, or even most players, don't bother to seek out. It's nice that the later story installments to IDV have enabled more of them to learn more about the lore, cause it's all so very interesting and a shame to miss out on) It was an absolute treat to see them all interact with each other and the environment!

I love how the point of contention was building up through it all, and how it all came to a head at the end. I loved Mike's development as he realised what was truly going on at Hullabaloo. His perception of his perfect childhood paradise practically imploded on him in such a scale that he could no longer handle it ;-; All of them were victims to the circus and each of them had their own sets of trauma from the abuse. You could understand why they all acted the way they did, even if some of their actions weren't always the best. Man, the writing is so good!

Overall a very good story and presentation that I really enjoyed! Lots of angst, which I love 👀 I feel like I've gotten a better understanding of these characters now too; just hoping I'll also manage to portray them somewhat similarly fgdshjfsd XD Anyway, I'm looking forward to game 0 now! (but plz I want more Ashes of Memory first 😭)