#UGH THAT BOSS

[shortbreadly]

not to rub salt in the wound already but i’m fairly certain that this is the same room. something something about a literal shadow falling over the light in their lives

[birdy-babe]

Stolas “‘Ugh, Why did you show up here?’ While sitting in his lap, leaning into him, with his arm around him” Goetia

[satoumafuyuss]

This is totally how this scene went, right?

[tealvenetianmask]

Thoughts about Striker being a "supremacist:"

On the surface, he's sort of a social class activist/ Robin Hood archetype. I think he truly thinks of himself this way. But when Blitz calls him a supremacist, who's he a supremacist against exactly? It's imps. This guy hates imps (and also identifies as one, even though he's clearly some sort of hybrid, which is interesting).

Let me show you what I mean. The short version is that he's the self-hating minority bigot trope, and it's executed really well.

"Blue Bloods"

"Disgusting, rich, pompous goetia"

"Some of us have everything we care about taken away by fuckers like you."

"You don't get to talk over me. . . all you ever do is try to talk over us."

"Once I split your neck open and let you choke on your own blue blood, you won't be worth any more than the tomb stone you'll be buried under."

So . . . first, he doesn't actually say a lot that's solely about royals, and ALL of the quotes above are about how royals look down on people like him, NOT about any inherent flaws that they have. They're about class, not race, unless you count "blue blood" as race. I don't. It's tied directly to money. "Disgusting" comes up in reference to Blitz's relationship with Stolas, but the words "rich" and "pompous" follow immediately. Striker hates royals because he hates that society places them above him.

Imps

"Pathetic."

"You little things aint worth the cleanup."

"Oh I remember how easy you are to choke the life out of, little one."

"Blitz, come on. You know the two of us are superior to most of our kind."

"I still think it's embarrassing. You're wasting a lot of potential relying on a weak little . . ."

"Vermin"

I think that this is where Striker's worldview comes into clearer focus. He thinks that Moxxie and Millie (and by extension MOST imps) are inferior to him. The word "vermin" is particularly telling. There's something visceral about his disgust for "lesser" imps.

I think Striker worries that they reflect who he really is. I think he truly believes that imps are inferior to higher class demons, and he fears that if he doesn't prove himself to be special (through violent dominance), he's vermin himself.

Notice how in the image below, his edge over Moxxie is all about size and physical strength- the things he implies throughout the episode make him the superior being. Look at that wide smile. He loves the feeling of being superior.

Relationships between imps and royals

"You are so above sucking on a disgusting rich pompous goetia . . ."

"kill the unkillable . . . starting with the one that treats you like a plaything."

"Blitzy"

"You two are both embarrassments to our kind for meddlin' with blue bloods to begin with. But at least loud mouth here has the sense to only fuck his rich bitch, instead of being a little purse dog."

"This worthless little pet reeks of his over bloated master. I'll at least enjoy getting rid of him."

Striker clearly sees these relationships as imps lowering themselves. It doesn't seem to occur to him even for a moment that these relationships might involve genuine care because he sees all interactions between social classes as being about power and "who wins."

Notice that despite in theory caring about the power dynamics, Striker puts most of his shaming language on the imps in the relationships, and uses demeaning language to do it- "embarrassments, purse dog, little pet," as if they're at fault (for being used, in his view . . .?) and should be ashamed.

I thought about delving more into why Striker sees Blitz as closer to his own level, and I think it comes down to the things he values (physical strength, willingness to kill, detachment/independence), which are not the things that we the audience end up liking the most about Blitz. He misses the point of what actually makes our boy great, basically. 😍

I've spent a lot of time reading and watching videos about real life white supremacists because I like to be miserable, and . . . yeah, this character really shares their view that some people are inferior to others, and that the traits that make them inferior are inherent and immutable. The people he hates just aren't the ones he'd have us believe he hates.

[jettorii]

.my hand slipped

[sincerelystesichorus]

helluva meme dump 1

helluva meme dumps | pt. 1 | pt. 2 || fizzy editions! | pt. 1 | pt. 2

[logically-illogical-2me]

Boss you fine Motherf*cker!!!

[fizzierolli]

Fizz & Blitzø

[hastalavistarbaby]

✨SHE✨

[bellsartblog]

emmet at hisui :DDD he's interacting with the locals :))) inspired by @galaxy-bri's post.

[prince-liest]

FULL MOON WAS EVERYTHING I COULD HAVE POSSIBLY WANTED

I was sooooo ready to be disappointed with the miscommunication trope in this episode, but it was PERFECT. It didn't feel silly or contrived, it felt like a hell of a lot got actually communicated and the issues arose from, y'know, the characters themselves having issues. Also, the soundscaping for that last scene was so fucking good. Starting with the music that fully did not match Blitz's intended mood, then transitioning to dead silence and then the added echo to their voices when they entered the last room, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—

I just. Everything that I wanted to get said got said! Stolas actually properly expressed his feelings, Blitz got pissed about it in a way that made clear where his personal issues lie, and then Stolas made it clear that that was a super unfair way to think of him, which is something that's been bothering me for a W H I L E. Apology Tour seems like it's going to be Blitz apologizing, which I didn't think it was gonna be just due to the preview shots, but is exactly what I actually wanted. Stolas has genuinely done his fucking best and it was good! It was really good!!!!!!

A lot of stolitz's relationship has been Stolas doing his best to communicate and Blitz just outright ignoring the words coming out of his mouth in favor of his own assumptions and I am delighted that finally it has come to a head in a way that allowed both of them to get their word in.

(Also honorable mentions to Blitz begging for the book BREAKING MY FUCKING HEART, Loona semi-inadvertently making Blitz's insecurities like 10x worse, and Loona + M&M being absolutely fantastic in every way during the fight scene!)

10/10 painful episode, but the pain was extremely cathartic. I feel like a wound has been lanced.

[xluciifer]

{ 𓆩 x 𓆪 }

[teakoro]

ITS NOVEMBER!!

[lilislegacy]

i can’t decide whether i should spend my time being unproductive and daydreaming about percabeth, hinny, or polin

my life is so hard

[dragonanon]

Why is it that I ALWAYS end up simping for the awful, douche bag, bastard men?? I’m literally over here pulling a Helga Pataki for Adam and Mammon right now, and I am fighting for my life

[notbecauseofvictories]

I think a lot these days about how much bigger the U.S. is than Europe. I mean, part of this is just working for a European company---I talk to our legal counsel based in Paris, and they forget that California (about 75% the size of all of France) has a new law we have to care about, because---well, that's just a state! who cares about a state! My colleagues regularly refuse to travel to a country that's essentially 3 hours of train travel away, because that's so far! ignoring the fact that I have traveled 4 hours to our sister company within the U.S. and regularly drive 1+ hours to the office. (While that's annoying and I don't advocate for it, it's not necessarily unthinkable, that's my point.)

On my way home, I was listening to an NPR story about the Portugal model of drug diversion. It was a great story, thoughtfully reported and contextualized in the recent backlash against decriminalization in the U.S.---but their point of comparison with Portugal was New Jersey. Because they're about the same size, the Republic of Portugal and one of the smallest states in my nation. I just think that when we ask ourselves why things work differently in different countries, "literally, physically different" should occasionally feature in the conversation.