#Izzy observations

[izzyeffinhands]

… listen I am all about Izzy being his most beautiful and pretty self. No one ever told him that before and he never thought he could ever be that, because how can you possibly feel pretty when you have a beautiful gorgeous man like Ed around? Izzy has always felt lesser. He’s always been the shadow no one really wanted around. He was a shadow even when younger with Ed and CJ, mostly feeling like the third wheel, only to become that AGAIN with Ed and Stede.

So when he feels pretty it’s the most special thing in the fucking world. It’s Izzy being vulnerable, showing himself to the entire world. Look at me. My name is Izzy Hands.

And I’m fucking beautiful.

[marsupials-of-mars]

I think the main confusion about how quickly and fearlessly Izzy came out in makeup and sang stems from how the audience has just sort of assumed he fits a particular trope. I am guilty of this also.

The thing is that Izzy is not a shy person. he is not insecure about social roles. All he has really been shown to care about is RESPECT and POWER. He always found that the best way to get that was through force. Being behind Blackbeard made people fear him, and respect him, Blackbeard had the charisma for leadership, he never asked to be a captain, he knew that power came from everyone being in their proper roles, being a cohesive, powerful force.

He was never really embarrassed or avoidant when he was ragged on by the new crew, he was just MAD. He would square up with men a head taller than him. he'd make weird little moans and say daddy and not really acknowledge it. He'd come out with a bandaged foot and a crutch smiling like an idiot while the crew gave him weird looks, because he was getting things back on track.

Basically, now that he knows that the crew respects him unconditionally for protecting them and might be getting to be decent pirates, and that his old idea of power behind the Blackbeard rep is out the window, why not do whatever the fuck he wants? He has no root principle against it. It has never been toxic masculinity, at least not significantly, that makes him Like That. He had a whole other sort of insecurity, and that's not really tying him down now, so he is unstoppable.

[colorful-horses]

Hasbro heard about Monster High making a comeback and they came out mad as FUCK with these dolls

[glapplebloom]

((I think Bridlewood was under that same Hopeless Magic with Izzy being the only one really colorful since she's so full of hope.))

[who-the-fuck-knows-blog]

thinking about ed’s “apology” being a series of minimizations — “perhaps some of my actions, maybe all of my actions, maybe me, myself, maybe I, me made some of you feel somewhat — whatever that nasty, dark stuff was that brought us here, it’s in the past. all i wanted to say at the end of the day is that we’re trying to move the culture forward”

how haltingly he admits to the blame, how he still moves the blame onto “dark nasty stuff” that “brought us here” instead of “my actions. what i did” and then immediately moving onto “it’s about just moving on and not thinking about it anymore” essentially.

thinking about how ed could say “hello Mr. Latch, it’s not your fault you’re broken, no. you didn’t break you. you were just trying to do your job, weren’t you?” to a door but cant say it to izzy. ed “i didn’t apologize for jack shit” teach, izzy already rewriting his trauma to excuse ed and place blame onto himself. Ed, going around to fang and allowing lucius to push him off the ship. he tried to make up with lucius and fang (who had already forgiven him) but noticeably hasnt been alone w izzy

thinking about ed saying “let’s move past it into the future” and izzy later saying “not moving on is worse” instead of/than acknowledging the actual trauma. idk idk

i dunno why i keep thinking about these scenes together. I think it has to do with the repeated word, but could be about how Izzy is blaming himself for his actions and Ed is being very gentle and understanding to a door latch he’s fixing, and not the man who he shot.

(ultimately, i do think he’s working on it, he’s getting there. but he isn’t there yet. it’s still early days, though.)

[endearingfascination]

can we talk about con o’neill’s clarity of tone in his performance doing la vie en rose as izzy? i’m a vocal technique aficionado and his approaches and arrivals to high and low notes were so effortless and healthy, it never felt like he was straining at ALL, all the notes flowed out just as easily as all the others. when watching vocal performances i often prepare myself to hear people imprecisely hit notes, especially high ones or on a big jump, but his arrivals on all the notes were so crisp and clear, not flat or sharp at ALL! i was literally agape round of applause con o’neill you are absolutely amazing!

[starrynyx]

"he can't be a father figure and a love interest" just wait until i tell u about the ancient greeks

[cursedfisherman]

Everyone's fine with people stabbing and trying to kill Stede, unless it's Izzy. Fascinating

[thegoldenhoof]

The fact that so much of the language anti Izzy GBs use is one I've heard for decades from general/straight fans against slash shippers never ceases to amuse me.

"That was not the writer's intent"

"That is not what the show is about"

"What the actors does/says doesn't count"

" *Canon* (and the mainstream popular interpretation of it) is the single valid perspective and all other interpretations deserved to be mocked and harrased."

So many fandoms behind me now and so much flashback these conversations give me. Apparently fandom as the community built on the fundamental tennent of "the author is dead" is utterly alien to these kids.

How ever much they dress it in new language the stink of the old ass self important horse shit is exactly the same. More things change more they remain the same.

[laceratedlamiaceae]

still not over this. Stede and Izzy alone together in a room full of candles. Izzy showing Stede how to use a sword, which has already been established as a form of flirting. Stede looking intently at Izzy being half-naked. ?What did they mean by this

[justletmebegayinpeace]

Stede doesn’t notice when Izzy’s ‘I will stab you’ (threatening) turns to ‘I will stab you’ (affectionate)

but Ed does

[beelzeballing]

"izzy behaves like hes from a different genre! like hes all serious and not muppet-y so it makes sense that he was the only one that could die!"

[impostoradult]

also, ngl, Izzy and Stede have a bit of a flirty antagonism now

[avastyetwats]

Continued from here. @unicornondeck

"...you fuckin' twat."

There's a smirk on Flint's face when Izzy approaches, having caught that brief conversation. If one could even call it that. It was really mostly Izzy scolding the other man for something he was doing wrong and telling him how to do it the right way. That earned him an angry 'fuck off' in return, something Flint knew Hands wasn't used to given he was the man in charge while on Blackbeard's crew. But even though he wasn't in charge here, Flint still demanded respect for him. Something he'd make sure to remind that certain crewmember of later.

"Or rum. Whatever your preferred morning drink of choice is. You don't strike me as a tea drinker." Of course he could be wrong. Admittedly, though, he was curious. About him in general. There was a lot he didn't know about Izzy, just as there was a lot Izzy didn't know about him and yet... he felt as though they probably had more in common than either might think. His eyes drift to the man Izzy had yelled at just seconds ago, noticing the man corrected himself, now performing the task correctly, per Izzy's instructions. His smirk grows. More so when he mentions discussing his role. "You only just joined this crew and yet you carry yourself as though you've been here for far longer." He comments, meant as a praise. Truthfully, he appreciated Izzy for not holding back just because he was new to the crew. If someone on his crew was making a mistake, he wanted it fixed and the only other person on this ship was years of experience aside from himself was Izzy.

He then turns to Izzy, the smirk not having faded just yet. "I've been thinking about it myself, but that's a conversation for later." He then turns, takes a few steps away and turns back to face him while moving his own hand to the handle of his weapon. "Draw your blade, Hands." He doesn't wait to withdraw his own. "Now."

[mossiestpiglet]

Frenchie pressing in close but keeping Fang’s arm between him and Izzy is such a smart and kind move. He understands that no one but Fang can hold Izzy like that and have it work, but he still wants to express his support with physical proximity. He gets as close as he can while still affording Izzy the barrier that is Fang, and it’s so gentle and shows an emotional and situational awareness that is integral to Frenchie as a character.

[katyahina]

Hey so are Izzy’s admirer and beastclaw Jozef different characters or the same guy actually?

The complication seems to come from the fact that with some Tomb Prospector summons and enemy variants, their face data are identical! So, enemy variants of Executioner are sharing the sliders with Queen Killer, enemy variants of average Tomb Prospectors share the sliders with Gremia (technically, because they have generic placeholder face model instead of sliders used to create NPCs)... and Izzy's Admirer hostile NPCs are just enemy variants of Beastclaw Josef!

(Josef)

(Izzy's Admirer/Successor)

You can already tell they have identical faces! I would like to 1000% confirm this, if I get a decent free-camera tool for Bloodborne to do this, but so far it seems legit! Another interesting detail is that the summons (Gremia, Queen Killer and Josef) have absolutely identical weapons and clothes sets to their "enemy" counterparts! I take this information from a certain Bloodborne wiki all compiled by one guy (@Mephistophea on Xitter, absolute chad) where many datamines are included just to confirm lack of differences! Here ( x ) is the page for Izzy's Admirer, confirming that he has the same clothes and weapons (Charred Hunter set + Beast Claw) as Josef, and here ( x ) is the page for a nameless Tomb Prospector that has the same clothes and weapons (Tomb Prospector set + Rosmarinus and Ludwig's Holy Blade) as Gremia! Mind that there is a variant of hostile Tomb Prospector NPC that has different weapons (Kirkhammer and Repeating Pistol). And... well, with Queen Killer, you can say that hostile variant is the same - naked NPC except for Gold Ardeo and Logarius' Wheel :p

The thing is, two of these hostile NPC are found in preset (so, "canon" dungeons): a single preset Izzy's Admirer in Lower Loran and a single preset Tomb Prospector in Isz! Needless to mention that 'Izzy's Admirer' somehow earned a "profile picture"...?

So yeah, I personally think that this is valid to make an exception for these specific two hostile NPCs since they are found in preset dungeons and make them their own characters! But also, these hostile hunters are just variants of generic hostile NPCs found all over Root Dungeons, besides they respawn... And ALSO, 'death' is a very loud word for Bloodborne lore, so for all we know preset Izzy's Admirer and preset Tomb Prospector might be Josef and Gremia but more in "shadow of the past" form. Like, we kill Henryk and after that we can summon him for the hunt! ...but also, we never need to kill these preset hunters to summon Josef and Gremia...

My answer is, it is up to interpretation! Because Chalice Dungeon summons and enemies specifically went under the 'videogame mechanics' razor the most imo! The certain thing is though, that 'Izzy's Admirer/Successor' is a covenant, and they all use Beast Claw, roam Loran dungeons and wear Charred Hunter set! My headcanon is that they just try to find whatever 'epiphany' that Irreverent Izzy had (in Loran), and wearing Charret set might be either because of their fear before fire (as those seeking beasthood power), because they all were Powder Kegs that agreed with Djura but went above and beyond, or a mix of both ideas! I myself choose to personify Josef and Izzy's Admirer from preset dungeons, and see them as different characters!

___________________

Somewhat relevant information:

(Image from official guide, found on Xitter ( x ))

Here you can see all hostile Chalice Dungeon hunters, SOME of which also made it into being summons! Gremia is Tomb Prospectof B, as you can see! But also, there was a plan for a Vileblood Drifter summon named Leo and Bone Ash Hunter summon named Carla! These names are cut content and I found here ( x ) (together with mysterious 'Defeated Hunter'). Fandom has an agreement that the face data for unused NPC that still exists in the game files is likely Leo:

So yeah, in the conclusion, I myself apply the known face data to Hunter summons (Queen Killer, Josef and Gremia), make unique one for hostile variants found in preset dunegons (single Izzy's Admirer and single Tomb Prospector B) and reuse the unused hunter face for Leo, which I count as Cainhurst character! (I combined the Cainhurst portrait of female Knight and cut NPC Carla, because Carla is a very Cainhurst name and I would not put it past a Vileblood to connect with their ancestors and join Bone Ash Hunters to defend her clan from their own curiosity, but that's another story lol. Though actually this is an idea of @val-of-the-north, I just stealeded it :> )

(Here is the face data page: ( x ))