#and i have no idea why i think striker will appear i just have an inkling

[shortbreadly]

it’s that time again! my predictions for episode six of helluva boss! once again some of these are very obvious and some are quite far-fetched.

i’ll put a blank template under the cut for anyone who wants to make their own :)

[helluvathings]

It's interesting that the episode description straight up warned for Stolas lacking self-awareness. It's more or less a confirmation that Stolas and his character arc aren't finished, and between that and the content of the last couple episodes, I ended up going back through the series and looking at the path he's taken so far. Warning now, there's a lot of 'deconstructing' Stolas at first, but I do think he's on a positive trajectory and the set up serves as foundation for future character development.

Anyway for anyone interested in a from-the-beginning rundown of Stolas's arc, full post is below.

From his first conversation with Blitzø, you have Stolas in his bath making the favors for favors offer, while Blitzø is working and in a life-or-death situation. The language Stolas is using is too formal; it causes communication issues, and Blitzø has to tell him to stop using "rich person talk." The scene that sets up their whole dynamic is 1. Stolas establishing the transaction (given he could've straight up punished Blitzø for stealing or just taken back the book, this isn't bad; it just is), 2. Stolas at leisure while Blitzø's job has him in danger, and 3. the class/education difference resulting in Blitzø having difficulty understanding what Stolas is saying.

Move forward to Loo Loo Land. The language Stolas uses with Blitzø gets a lot of attention already, as does Stolas's rather poor grasp of social cues/difficulty seeing outside his own perspective causing him to clash with Octavia. One point I don't see raised as often is that Stolas hiring Blitzø to spend time together, when he doesn't need a bodyguard, and then sexualizing Blitzø while he does his job, is both condescending, and doesn't show much respect for what Blitzø actually does. He pays him more or less to put on a show, so Stolas can indulge a fantasy of them having a relationship (not because he's evil, because he doesn't know better).

Then you've got Stolas in the newest episode, getting annoyed with Blitzø for saying he thought Stolas couldn't be hurt because he was immortal. That if I.M.P. could handle Striker, Stolas surely could. Stolas's sarcastic, "It's not an imp's place to protect a Goetia, is it?" comes across different when considering Stolas literally once hired them as mock bodyguards. It just... escapes him, why Blitzø would think the idea of Stolas needing their help is outrageous. Never mind how clear Stolas's rescue in Truthseekers made their power disparity. Stolas often has trouble putting himself in other people's shoes, and it shows here.

The Harvest Moon Festival brings in Striker, who's basically a "class problems" mouthpiece, exaggerated for emphasis. He even remarks directly on how Stolas's treatment of Blitzø can look from the outside. There's also the episode's opening bedroom scene, where Stolas's idea of flirty talk is copious use of microaggressions, plus the later scene with Blitzø snapping about Stolas not using his proper name. It's likely not an accident that these things happen the same episode Striker appears.

Truthseekers has "impish little plaything," with honorable mention to Stolas pinching Blitzø's cheek and scolding I.M.P. like children. But it also has Blitzø's vision all but screaming how Stolas makes him feel. On the one hand, it's Stolas who brings him back to himself. He washes away the muck. He's something beautiful amidst the ugliness. But he's on a pedestal, he has Blitzø in chains. He has shadow Blitzøs fanning him like servants, and Blitzø stumbles away from him blind and mute, smothered by feathers.

Ozzie's is actually good for Stolas's development, because he gets his first reality check when Blitzø makes it clear he thinks Stolas only wants sex. (It also shows how Stolas feels about Blitzø behind the bad erotic-novel scripts he's been using, which is the first time the audience sees this outright). After that, Stolas realizes his relationship with Blitzø was problematic. He sees the transaction and gets rid of it, and he senses something off with his behavior that has him start calling Blitzø by name and stopping with the 'plaything' type remarks.

But the past two episodes have made it evident he'd made those realizations in a vacuum. His broader class awareness is basically nonexistent, and when Blitzø tries raising the issue, he groups Blitzø with Striker by default, as if any criticism of his status/wealth/privilege is unreliable and antagonistic toward him specifically. He refuses to sincerely consider that Blitzø isn't merely judging him, and that he might be saying something with legitimate basis.

The Circus is especially interesting. Aside from the commentary underlying the 'buying Blitzø' plot, the episode shows Stolas getting scolded by Paimon like a dog for showing respect to an imp; that likely wouldn't have been an isolated incident. It's played somewhat for humor ("I'm so good at daddying"), but it also shows why he'd have so much trouble with things like microaggressions. He has literally been trained to hold himself above others. And just going off the way Stolas is framed at Stella's party, isolated and alone, being laughed at by Stella and her friends, I suspect Stolas may see himself as a "good rich person," because he doesn't seem to fit well with the Goetia either; he's laughed at and bullied, he lacks privilege in his own ways. He identifies more with other demons than his own class--and it blinds him, I think, to the fact that he is still part of his class, and isn't immune to the problems that come with that.

Even in Seeing Stars, there's the moment with Stolas all but strangling that poor butler and hardly seeming to notice. In an episode that's almost entirely focused on father-daughter relationships, that still gets tossed in. Regarding the Octavia plot, Stolas lacking self-awareness comes up again; it's understandable that he's distracted with the divorce, and we do see him try to resolve the issue, but it feels like a quiet alarm indicating hey, you might have a recurring problem where your daughter is concerned.

Western Energy is another 'Striker shouting that class issues matter in this show' moment. While I think Stolas going the 'well, you're part of the system, so you can't complain' route when Striker tries bringing it up is loosely relevant, I also don't blame him for that one. Poor guy is being tortured, he deserves some slack. Oops, in my opinion, shows Stolas at his best; he's just been turned down by Ozzie, but he still sticks around and helps. We even see how sincerely happy he is when Fizz returns. It's a good example of how decent Stolas can be beneath it all, as well as his sense of romance appearing in a healthier way.

Then come Full Moon and Apology Tour, where most of the Stolas subtext gets screamed and/or bitterly snapped in his face by Blitzø. It's stated directly by the main character that those things matter, in a way that imo portrays Blitzø as at least partially sympathetic. And of course the Apology Tour episode description, yelling it for the folks in back.

What all this is trying to say is: 90% of Stolas's time on screen has set him up to have a 'getting more self aware' arc. I see a lot of accusations of the show babying Stolas, but I think it's more that it hasn't gotten around to doing what it wants with Stolas. There are 4 seasons. We're in the second. We've had Stolas's post-Ozzie's revelation, and now he's getting a lot more "you're part of the problem" feedback thrown his way. It's implied Octavia is going to contribute to that as well.

Anyway!! My personal guess so far is that if the "loses his powers and/or titles" theory that's been going around has any merit, that's going to instigate the start of actual, substantial change. Will that actually happen? No idea. But Stolas's flaws have been as articulated and developed as Blitzø's, and at this point, if the consequences aren't explored in the same way, it'll be dropping a ball that's already well in the air. I also think this isn't going to be a "fixed by the end of season 2" thing. Stolas problably won't appear again until Mastermind, and then there's just Sinsmas. There isn't time for him to change in two episodes. There is, however, time for him to have some big realizations, and for the change to happen next season.

[wileys-russo]

Mearps and "you really need to take a nap babe" xx

mary earps

"-two more days and then i'm all yours." you smiled at her words with a nod, though mary could see it didn't quite reach your eyes. "i'm really sorry love, you know this time of year is insane." mary sighed and you were quick to assure her you understood.

"i know baby. you can't help your schedule and i am so incredibly proud of all of your accomplishments and awards, i'm just sorry i can't be there to support and watch you accept them." you frowned, your own job keeping you tethered to manchester while mary had been seemingly all around everywhere but manchester for the last two weeks.

between trainings, national camp, nations league, away games, conti cup matches, awards, trophies, public appearances, her clothing company and the impending transfer season you and mary hadn't actually spent more than a few hours together in just over two and a half weeks.

and you were both feeling it.

you were a teacher which meant you tried your very best to be there to watch her play, accept awards or just be with her. but with the end of the year fast approaching your own workload was increasing with reports due, exams to mark and deadlines to meet.

"hey you do not need to be sorry beautiful. your kids need you and i am so proud of you every single day, hows the reports coming?" mary questioned adjusting where she laid down on her bed, away for the weekend in liverpool for a united match.

"they're...coming." you sighed tiredly, glancing to your laptop and the papers scattered all around it. "you look tired baby. you're not pulling all nighters again are you?" your girlfriend asked somewhat sternly, knowing you all too well having been with you almost two years now.

"i have to babe, its my month to do after school pickup duty so i'm not getting home until after five thirty." you sighed running a hand through your hair, mary now really noticing the bags under your eyes which were near matching to her own.

"baby i really don't like when-" she was cut off as you heard her name called in the distance and suddenly you were looking at someone else. "hi tooney." you chuckled at the younger girl who sung out hello, ignoring your girlfriends protests as she struggled beneath millie, maya and lucia who'd all come thundering in.

"i'm busy! get off and get out." mary managed to shove them off, all four girls calling out bye as they dissapeared off screen and you heard the door slam behind them.

"children!" mary groaned as she belly flopped onto the bed and readjusted her phone. "baby love you look exhausted, you know how i feel about you pulling all nighters." mary warned as you wave her off, ignoring the fact your eyes felt like they had anchors attached to them.

"mary." the striker hummed with an amused smile as you were clearly fighting to keep your eyes open, your girlfriend having just talked you through her day.

"do you think if you injected coffee you'd die?" you asked tiredly, one eye closed as the keeper bit her lip to stop from laughing. "whys that baby?" she questioned curiously. "well when you inject drugs it goes right to your bloodstream. or if you're sick they hook you up to an iv yeah?" you started to mumble, mary humming encouragingly.

"well what if for people who are like coffee addicts, could they get put on like a drip of coffee? like a caffeinated iv." you pitched your idea to her, moving to rest your head on your hands as your girlfriend laughed as quietly as she could.

"you really need a nap babe."

[tealvenetianmask]

can you picture western energy striker defiantly hissing "vermin" in the face of sure death? can you imagine the harvest moon one getting offended at the dick statue he himself built being made fun of? or letting sex jokes get under his skin after he p much spent the pain games seducing blitz?

Sweet anon, you responded seriously to a shitpost.

*Ahem*

Honey, you can take a joke about as well as Striker can.

*cough cough hacking fit*

Gumdrop-----

*sigh*

Okay, none of that is fair. I'd better respond to your actual argument. In most shitposts, there's a grain of OP's actual opinion. This one is no different. My opinion is this: I think Striker's character development in Season 2 is good actually. I'll explain why, and I hope I'll get around to all of your ideas along the way.

Point 1: I concede- Striker did come across as COOLER in The Harvest Moon Festival, but I think that "cool" was skin deep. He had a confident attitude and cool weapons. He could fight and kill a wild hellbeast and tied with Blitz in the tough guy contest. He had the voice of Norman Reedus for fuck's sake. The screenshot I used in the shitpost was a smear, which is a technique for animating fast motion, and Striker doesn't look dorky unless you pause it at exactly the right split second- it was a joke. Now, did that present potential for him to be a villain who was super slick and formidable all the time? Sure.

But was it representative of anything more about his character than the attitude he projected and his fighting skills? No, I don't think so-- we knew next to nothing about him. And cracks in his exterior were already visible in some core contradictions, which brings me to . . .

Point 2: He was overtly presented as a racist, self-hating hypocrite who was not as tough as he pretended to be ALREADY in The Harvest Moon Festival. I'm not exaggerating. I went into way more depth about this here, but here's the gist. He presented himself as sort of an imp rights activist (royals treat them like playthings, etc.) but also said that he and Blitz are superior to other imps and yes, like you mentioned in your ask, called Moxxie, a smaller imp with more typical imp traits "vermin" and demeaned him throughout the episode. He also genuinely had his ass handed to him by Blitz when they actually directly fought hand to hand, so there's that . . . AND he calls what Blitz does beneath him but literally works for royals himself. The fantasy he tried to sell to Blitz IS a fantasy that Striker IS NOT LIVING.

Point 3: The character development he gets in Season 2 is consistent with what we see in Season 1. Why wouldn't a character who represents toxic masculinity in Moxxie's character arc have a giant statue of himself with a pointy dong? A character who's delusional enough to see himself as a free agent "slaying overlords" when he's really working as a paid assassin? Who describes himself as "superior to most of his kind?" Why would you expect that character to react well to losing? Because he acted angry and called Moxxie vermin rather than begging for mercy (which he never does later)? Please. He continues to act angry when he's losing in Season 2- he just gets more unhinged about it as he loses more and more. And then he runs the fuck away. At the end of every single episode in which he appears. Because his bravery has a fucking limit.

Point 4: And that development is actually more interesting (and potentially scary in the future) than a villain who's just cool and unshakeable. We learn more about his fixations and insecurities. That when other characters flirt to disarm him (different from when he's the one seducing/manipulating), he gets flustered and messes up. We learn that he's insecure enough to need the validation of success, and when his losses pile up, he starts to break.

For him, breaking shows up as murderous rage rather than sadness because he can't stand to be weak. He's willing to kill Fizz and incur the wrath of Asmodeus just to satisfy that rage, just to sate his murderous hatred for someone who committed the crime of being an imp in a relationship above his station. This suggests that going forward, he'll be capable of unspeakable cruelty, motivated by hate, free from the constraints of morality and common sense. He will become increasingly dangerous and increasingly tragic. The audience wants to know his backstory (because how could someone get like this without profound pain?) and wants to see what he'll do next.

In short, Striker is an awesome character, but not in the ways that his defenders think he "should have been" based on his first appearance.

[rose-riot-johnson]

Hello my Tumblr Peeps😁 There's this fanfic idea I have been thinking about pertaining Shidou Ryusei for a while and it's gonna involve smut obviously, however those who would like for me to see this part come to play, this smut fanfic will exclusive to readers of any (and all) genders, those who are his fans, and who enjoy smut, and the most obvious 1 (due to the smut genre) +18☠️⚽

*This fanfic contains pronoun(s) in 1 or more paragraphs😅

☠️⚽Unexpectedly Alone In The Locker With Shidou Ryusei⚽☠️(Shidou Ryusei x Any Gender Reader)

Genres: Smut (in the locker room) and Enemies To Lovers(?) (Warning +18⚠️: Oral (character receiving), Deep Throating, Cum Eating, Language, Hair Gripping)

You never got along with Shidou Ryusei for a good reason. Eversince a close friend of yours told you that someone named Shidou Ryusei, the guy with blonde hair (with pink tips at the ends (more pink on the bangs)) saw him holding his note before your friend mentioned the Ryusei threatened your friend a career ending injury, if (male friend name) was to ever come to the Blue Lock program, you're already fueled with hatred for Ryusei and you even decided to get at Ryusei as much as possible, despite of not meeting him yet. You even offered to take your friends place in the Blue Lock program, which your friend was hesitant at first, for some reason, then agreed to let you take his place.

Before you went inside the Blue Lock program, you madesure to change your appearance, just enough to look the part and not get yourself kicked cked out of the Blue Lock program, just incase if a reason was found for you to not be able to be in the Blue Lock program. In the matter of months, you've became one of the best football (which some people call soccer) players in the Blue Lock program. There was just the catch...

You ended up being assigned in the team called PXG (aka, Paris X Gen), which you unfortunately became a teammate of non other than, Shidou Ryusei. Upon meeting Shidou, he went up to you and cooed, "Hey! Welcome to the team! The name's, Shidou Ryusei! I heard you became one of the top players in the Blue Lock program in recent months! I sure hope you can live up to your reputation, because I think we'll get along great! You must be (the friend's name that you went by)... Or is that the name you go by...", which you started to get nervous and thought you would get in trouble, until he smiled, as he continued, "Don't worry, friend... I won't tell anyone that you go by that name... I'm sure there are reasons for that, especially if you're not keen on your birth name for whatever reason...", which made you sigh with relief. You're glad you can still find ways to get at him.

Ryusei then started to say stuff about your close friend, as he explained, "There was this one kid I went to school with that I had to keep in line... I've seen this note for the Blue Lock program, then he seemed to happily brag about going there to be the best striker! Damn he was annoying! Not just that... There's other personal reasons why! That fucker had it coming! He just got on my nerves! I will talk more about it some other time! I'm just glad you came in the program instead of him! You never talked like him!", before heading to the PXG locker room. So it seems like lucky for you, Ryusei didn't caught on to your friends' full name, if any of of your friend's name.

Just the thoughts of what Ryusei said made you more furious, however you knew you had to keep your composure. After you can't let him know that you're using your friend's name. You rather focus on getting your revenge on Shidou Ryusei, because you felt nothing he says will change your mind about him.

As time went by, you decide to take Ryusei's food (most of the time his favorite food yukhoe) out of his locker and eat it up, while putting other types of food in his locker, considering you're usually, the last person who enters the locker room and the last to leave the locker room (up to reader's imagination on who the reader managed to be able to take Shidou's food out of his locker before the reader puts other kinds of food in his locker). Food would fall out of his locker everytime he opens his locker up to try to find his food, after you do this to him and you haven't got caught... Yet... One day, after you scored the last goal of the football (which some people call soccer), Shidou knew you're the new person he would want to play soccer with forever, however you did decline to go inside the locker room with him and even though he's skeptical about going inside the locker room without you, he was cool about it and went inside the locker room without you.

You waited, as long as you usually do before you went inside the PXG locker room. You then decided to open both your locker and Ryusei's locker very quickly, as you then took his lunch out and take the bean sprouts out of your locker. While putting the whole bag of bean sprouts in his locker you heard a voice growling, "As funny, as you think you are, I don't like bean sprouts!", which made you very frightened.

As you turned to look, you've noticed Shidou Ryusei, with a smirk on his face as he said, "I knew something was up with you, but I should have known you were taking my food, while putting the other food inside of my locker... It was a little amusing... I just don't like my food being stolen and traded with other food you know... You're very naughty! You know that?! Now tell me your real name, (prince/princess)!". You gulped, as you became unsure what to do, as you began to notice his hard on be, as he exclaimed, "Do you realize you've been making me hard, everytime and every second I even seen your face or even a glance of you! Then, from how I noticed the way you've been playing, scoring goals, and finding out you're the one who's been fucken pranking me, my aching cock couldn't take it anymore! I knew something was suspicious about you, by the way! I knew (the friend's name that you went by) isn't your name! I get it now! That person I was telling you about, you must have been close friends with! It makes, so much sense now!". Once you realized he's on to you atleast about you using your close friend's name, you began to have fear of Ryusei getting you in huge trouble, getting you kicked out of the PXG, being banned from playing football (which some people call soccer), and possibly end up having some jail time.

"No worries! I won't tell on you! So, I might tell you what really happened to your "so called", close friend and I, since you only heard his side of the story...", Ryusei assured before he continued, "But there's a catch! I would like to see, if how well your mouth can handle my cock! While I'm not forcing you to do so by any means... You just would never hear my side of the story, if you decide not to enjoy my cock... It's clearly up to you... I can easily tell that you think I'm hot! I felt the same way about you! By the way I will let you make the choice, if you want to make the decision or not! Nothing is stopping you right now! What choice will you make gorgeous?". You really hated to say it, however he's right about you and you know you wanted to suck on his cock just from seeing his hard on... While you want to pretend not to want his cock and decline the offer, however you agreed to sucking on his cock, so you can hear his side of the story to see, if it doesn't add up.

Shidou smiled, as he pulled his dick out of his pants, as he cheered, "I didn't think you would take my offer! I hope you won't regret this! By the way, before I let you have my cock, would you like to tell me your name?". You walked closer to him, proceeding to get on your knees as you answered, "My name's actually, (Any Gender Reader Name)...", then continued, "I was also hoping you won't regret this, as well...", before you started sucking on his hard dick. While you did felt a little guilt with giving your heart to an enemy of your close friend, however you knew you wanted him, and you know that there's more to Ryusei than his his looks and his dick.

While Ryusei knew he would get his enjoyment out of you sucking on his hard dick, he's surprised you're even willing to deep throat his cock, as he groaned, "I'm glad you're taking my cock well... Fuck! I just didn't think you would take it this far, my monarch... Fuck!", before having his hand moved to your head, as he will pet your head, then starts gripping your hair. For some reason he knew he wasn't going to regret you sucking on his cock and you're definitely not regretting taking care of him either. The way you're drooling on his cock while you're deep throating, it was definitely an amazing experience for the both of you.

As you continued to deep throat his dick, Ryusei praised, "You did so amazing with sucking on my cock, (handsome/beautiful)! Keep this up, I might cum inside of your mouth and your throat! What an explosion that would be, if I was to cum, right now!", in a moaning sensation from feeling drunk from you having his cock deep inside of his throat. Minutes later he actually did end up emptying his cum inside of your throat, then your mouth, as he was slowly pulling his freshly satisfied cock out of your mouth, eventually having the tip of his dick touching your bottom lip.

Once Ryusei put his cock back in, you snuggled with him on the bench. "Hey Shidou... Could I get your side of the story of what really happened between you and (friend name)? I really wanted to see, if anything adds up... And you seem nicer to me, than you are him, if I'm honest about it...", you mentioned, as you ended up reminding him. He replied, "Ofcourse I will, hun... Thanks for reminding me... Anyways what happened was, I saw this guy reading a note that was actually for you and he decided to use white out and was about to forge his name! He even seemingly bragged that he's going to be the best striker in the entire universe and claimed that you won't make it with any career! When he mentioned you're name I fucken flipped! I fucken told him, if I ever found out he's in the Blue Lock program no matter which team he was on, I will make him wish he never white out your name nor ever think of forging his name in it! I also knew you looked familiar, too. You're so good at the sports you were doing and I think he was either jealous of you for how amazing you did or worried about me taking you away from him for how bad he wanted you all to himself!"

After hearing what Ryusei had to say you began to realize why this "close friend" of yours isn't really your friend after all, as you began to feel bad for taking his food out of his locker while putting other kinds of food in his locker and deciding to get revenge on him not knowing his side of the story. "Hey, Ryusei... I'm sorry for what I have been doing to you... I should have asked you for your side of the story before I tried getting revenge on you, especially pertaining stealing food from your locker and putting other food in your locker... Even if it was a prank... I should have known why he was hesitant in letting go to the Blue Lock program now...", you apologized. "No need to apologize, babe... I would have understood even if you wouldn't have apologized... Besides, you don't seem as malice as you think you are... This "friend" of yours on the other hand... You should be more careful... Appearances can be deceiving and there's a reason why he was withholding information from you...", he replied before giving your forehead kisses.

Ryusei then continued, "By the way... What you were stealing wasn't my lunch... What you took out was just bait to see who was playing lunch trade with me... Look deeper inside my locker and you'll see my lunch I was going to actually share with you with a special note, before this amazing and crazy adventure in the locker room...". You then got off the bench and did what he was told, as you noticed a clear bento box with the lunch he was going to share with you, with a note on it. You then started reading the note, as you began reading what he wrote, as the note said...

"My Dear Monarch,

Thanks for showing off your moves during our games together and I can see why you were one of the best ones in Blue Lock program! You've impressed me with your explosions every game! I think you're cool! Your explosions made me want to play with you, as a striker more than I do with anyone else now! You look familiar, btw. Anyways I really liked you alot! So, if you want, we could possibly go out on a date sometime. If not we could be just friends, too! Could I also have your cellphone number or possibly the names of any social media accounts that you might have?

Sincerely, your teammate,

Shidou Ryusei"

You were surprised about everything Ryusei has written in that note of his, as you admitted, "Well, Shidou... Since I was willing to suck on your cock until your empty... I'm glad we ended up doing this before you letted me know about the note... Infact I'm actually glad you told me the truth what really happened between you and the not so close friend... So a date it is and I will exchange numbers and see about exchanging social media names with eachother then...", as you smiled at him. He was so surprised from how you answered him, he was really happy about it and he really thanked you for everything that happened with him today. If he's being more honest, he actually enjoyed your company before he had ever got to meet you. This is how excited he has became.

⚽☠️The End☠️⚽

I do hope you enjoyed this smut fanfic with, Shidou Ryusei in it☠️⚽😁👍I do apologize, if there's any grammar issues and also for not doing as much smut stuff, as I usually do, since with the smut part I figured this is 1 of the smut fanfics that will unusually be for any gender reader, as I mentioned in the intro part of this fanfic, so I'm new with writing smut that is for any and all genders😅I still hope this would be fine with just what I did with the smut parts of this fanfic😃👍I also wanted to write something similar as I did about Ryusei for a long time and I'm really excited to write this fanfic about him😁👍While there are things I did with this fanfic that are last minute, I decided to a few different things with this fanfic and I hope I got creative enough to be able to say so, especially the note part of this fanfic😅☠️⚽😎👍As for the monarch nickname, I just have my reasons to write that part😃👍I really had fun writing this fanfic about Ryusei and I was super excited to write it☠️⚽😁👍

[ripplestitchskein]

This is super crackish but I am DELIGHTED. So in Western Energy Andrealphus’s actions indicate that he is playing his sister in order to gain the upper hand for HIM. He is obviously flattering and manipulating her and loses his patience multiple times “You stupid cow”, which shows through the cracks of what he is saying and his fake demeanor.

This could be just a weird brother and sister dynamic, he genuinely wants to get the money for Stella and she’s just stupid so he loses his patience but why go through this subterfuge and the song and dance of walking her through it to make to seem like her idea? I’ve always found the dynamic odd, why not just tell her flat out “You can’t kill him we need his money, if he dies it goes to Via.” Why coo and simper and put on a whole performance?

That reasoning also falls flat for me. Stella and Via do not appear to have a bad relationship, Via is often with her and Stella takes her on weekends. If Stolas died and Via inherited why would they assume she’d cast Stella out? Why does Stella need to inherit directly? She doesn’t have control of the money and power now. She never has. She just has access to it. Which she still could. What’s the difference? Wouldn’t a grieving, untrained, teenage daughter be easier to manipulate into giving up the money, power and legions than leaving Stolas alive and having to do some convoluted plan in a nebulous future involving an already powerful demon? Like bad planning Andrealphus, think it through.

Also, what does he even need this money and power FOR? He has a palace of his own. He has powers of his own. I assume legions of his own. He doesn’t appear to be hurting for money in his own right. For Stella’s sake? He seems to kinda dislike her? He certainly doesn’t respect her. He clearly thinks she’s an idiot. He’s obviously manipulating her and leading her towards something. So what is he trying to get that he doesn’t already have?

And why NOW? Why wait until after Stolas is trying to get a divorce? Like if he truly is doing it for her sake it makes sense it wouldn’t come up until her position was at risk. He might very well be doing this out of love for her.

Like the serious side of me knows there’s probably a larger plan at work on Andrealphus’s part than has been revealed and it’s entirely greedy and will be shown to us in Mastermind and Sinsmas, I also have some ideas for how Mammon/Oz/Fizz will tie that all together but today I was watching Western Energy and my insane brain was like “What if Vassago is a misdirect and Andrealphus is Stolas’s romantic fairytale lead?”

HEAR ME OUT. IT’S SO FUNNY

We have no other indication about what Andrealphus is like other than Stolas saying “Your arrogant brother”. That is our first description of him. That is a hugely popular romance novel trope. How many arrogant love interests exist in the romance space, like a billion? Think about how often a posh aristocrat has called their love interest “arrogant”. And the entire plot of one MC having to marry the brother of another. Like that’s peak romance novel.

What made me think of this is that when Andrealphus is talking to Stella his manipulations are solely about keeping Stolas alive. That is his entire stated goal. He elaborates with “Eternity is a long time my dear” and he sounds fascinated that Stolas is behaving this way. Like Andrealphus has an opportunity for something now. I was just like “In a different context this would read like Andrealphus manipulating her into keeping Stolas alive to save his life. Like technically Andrealphus saved Stolas this episode. That’s interesting.”

And then my brain snagged on the cover of the romance book, it being two avian demons and of course the trailer where we don’t see Stella coming for Stola and Blitz but Andrealphus.

And like if all this was happening because Andrealphus has been secretly in love with Stolas this whole time and found out she hired Striker the first time time so has been trying to keep him alive and get Stella settled and happy and out of the way so he can be with him? Like obviously Stolas would have no idea, but Andrealphus pining for him and doing all these things he doesn’t need to do since he’s already rich and powerful would make much more sense. In the short term, like I said they’ll prob reveal something about his actual motivations soon. But looking at where we are right this second that is not incredibly outlandish. It would take like a few flashbacks to sell that and make it work with the current plot.

Andrealphus making his case and Stolas being like “But I love Blitz” would even lead into a really interesting start to the class conflict. Andrealphus can’t believe an imp could be better than him, would be preferred over HIM a royal, and instead of doing what a romantic hero with that plot should do he goes villainous and tries to kill them. Like what an interesting thing for Stolas, to have the cliche romantic hero moment he wanted BECAUSE of a twisted cliche romantic plot line? And Andrealphus’s twisted romance begins a larger divide between imps and Ars Goetia in S3.

Like isn’t that wild? Wouldn’t that be amazing?

[campbell-rose]

Helluva Fucking Rant: S2 E6 

OKay I’m a big fat liar and my pants are burning my ass rn, I know I said I’d do Rwby designs next but then the whole leaked episode drama happened and now it’s out and I need to complain. 

*Off the bat, I’m not going to talk pacing mainly because I have little experience with dealing with pacing (having never written anything more than comic strips lol). The episode didn’t feel too fast but anyway 

I’m going to organize this based on gripes I have per character. 

Fizzarolli: He is my baby. He's like kind of babygirl if that makes any sense. “Maybe I could burn the milk this time” 

I adore Fizz as a character. He’s not babified or infantilized like a lot of Viv’s other gay men. So far. Who knows, the writers have proven how adept they are at contradicting and retconning characters. But uhhhh what the fuck was he doing in Greed? Am I stupid? Like, it’s never spelled out. Is it for pr? Is it a deal with Mammon type thing? Is he promoting something? If he had somewhere to be why did he let his dogs run him all over creation??? Like, bit of an issue there as it’s only vaguely mentioned that he was practicing something. 

His backstory is like... acceptable I suppose. Not what I was expecting. I was expecting like, what we got, and a combination of some other theories I had personally. See, my issue is the fire and how imps have been shown in previous episodes to be, ya know, IMMUNE TO FIRE. Imagine if, and bear with me here huge stretch I know, imps are immune to fire and hellfire – but not holy fire. Like, shit straight from the angel’s burning halo type fire. That would make sense, since hellfire is a thing in pop culture and biblically accurate angels are all gold and flames! 

I do like the idea that fizz’s entire body is white from scars, however I think his scars need texture for the idea to sell. Maybe in full costume it’s covered with makeup, but come on people he was lit on fire, you ever seen a healed burn? Fizz being scared of the flames legit made me sad, I love him so much. However they’re trying to show he’s got like ptsd (maybe not exactly but still) from it, but it feels inconsistent to me for some reason. On a final note, he never should’ve forgiven Blitzo in any way, shape or form tbh, I would’ve preferred what Barbie did just straight up, I don’t like you, I can’t forgive you please leave me alone.  

Asmodeus: This cemented for me how much I fucking hate his design. His stupid head is so tiny and his body is built like a brick shithouse like, it’s so unbalanced and weird looking. I like his character here I suppose. No noticeable inconsistencies from his first appearance. His va is killing it tbh, love him so much what a king. 

I’m fine with his character, what I’m not fine with is the weird consent angle their going with. Like... he is the SIN of LUST??? Valentino is more of what I’d expect as the sin of Lust compared to Asmodeus. Also, the WEAKEST and most NON THREATENING SIN??? KESHADOG IS RIGHT THERE 

Crimson: He should’ve been hired by Mammon to get back at Asmodeus. Maybe Asmodeus has an unpaid debt with Mammon and has been shirking him so Mammon is like ‘i have your fucktoy now, give me my money or you won’t get him back’ 

Like his little video chat could’ve been context, like “You don’t know me, but you may know my employer – Mammon?” 

The paperwork would make sense then, Mammon is sending over contracts and bullshit Asmodeus has to sign. The importance of reading the fine print would be even more present because Asmodeus is dealing with someone on his level who can actually fuck him up, not some nobody imp he could kill with a glance! Crimson’s motive could be that Mammon offered him a share of Ozzie’s stock and would let him run some shit because Crimson has become a prominent member of higher society despite being an imp, which is the only reason Striker is partnered with him. 

Striker: Striker baby doll, please just fucking kill Fizz. Like, stop fucking standing there, kill the fucker. Omg I was so annoyed with his lack of action this episode. Both Fizz and Striker are incredible agile and snake like characters, this whole distraction song should’ve been a mix of striker trying to kill Fizz/Fizz avoiding him and Crim’s gang being just flabbergasted by the bullshit they’re witnessing. It’s been shown before that Crimson ony ever sits on the sidelines while his goons get killed so like????  

Anyway, Viv can try as hard as she wants to paint Striker as in the wrong and a bigot, but it won’t work on me. He’s completely in the right because imps are literally the slave/working class in this caste system. Fizz is (to imps in the slums and less fortunate) probably the epitome of a pampered lapdog plaything of the upper class. ANd that could’ve been something interesting to explore. Why not show the perspective of other imps that think like Striker, maybe have them be antagonistic to Fizz because he’s Asmodeus and Mammon’s pet, or maybe Fizz finds out that’s what people think of him and he’s horrified and that’s why he’s mad Blitzo calls him a whore. But no, because Striker is an evil bigot who sides with the evil woman Stella so nobody else thinks like he does. 

Also, his new va has the sexiest voice i've heard since live action Buggy or sub Crocodile so I'm not complaining about him taking up screen time

Him all disheveled is straight up working for me

Blitzo: Once again he gets away with being shitty and stupid and awful because he’s a woobie. Why the fuck was the crux of their hatred based on a birthday cake and the miscommunication trope??? I hate this so much.  

Was Blitzo in love with Fizz? Is that what that blink and you’ll miss it letter was? I’m getting very tired of this show having blink and you’ll miss it plot beats. That isn’t showing not telling, it’s like sweeping shit under a rug. Its like they think just because it was on screen for a frame the audience will catch it and be like ‘omg it happened’ or feel smart for catching something. Stolitz making up through text shouldn’t be a pause the video and read moment for fuckssake. 

I’m finding it very ahrd to tolerate Blitzo. On the topic of him though, I saw the leaked episode. WHY was Barbie taken out of the final flashback???

What the actual fuck???? Like... once again the women in this show are just shoved away and forgotten this is like Naruto level female character writing guys. Naruto had one good female character and she was still sidelined half the damn time. 

Also i fucking hate how this show can't be serious for more than five seconds like when Fizz and Blitzo hug and Blitzo is like 'haha wanna make out' i hate this but it isn't as egregious as having dildos during an abuse scene

Conclusion: Animation was amazing (also one of my fav animators KittenSneeze is an animator for Spindlehorse now like i love them so good for them), plot was whatever, characters are where the story falls, this won and I can’t anymore. 

Actually no, not conclusion. You know what really makes me hate Helluva Boss? It isn’t fair. I know that sounds childish and stupid, but who cares I’m childish and I’m stupid. Why is it that someone like Viv, who consistently doesn’t take criticism and is just a shit person all around gets rewarded for doing dogshit all the time. Yeah it’s a bit step for indie animation or whatever but she literally has Alex Brightman in her fucking pocket I don’t wanna hear it. Lackadaisy has earned it’s time in the goddamn spotlight, not Viv and her stupid creations. It’s so unfair. She got popular off of happenstance for her kesha sparkledogs and now she’s off bastardizing demonology and writing borderline backwards gay and female characters and she’s getting praised as the patron saint of queer rep and indie animation. Like, she doesn’t deserve it. Genuinely. I wish I could just post my demon story and people would just flock to it like flies to shit and shower me in praise and protect me from any criticism. But that’s not how real life works, but for some reason it is for Viv. Its just... I hate it. 

Anyway, baby rant over. This episode was like 7/10 tbh. It wasn't amazing but for Helluva Boss it was good. Sarcastic Chorus made a video about it that I'm gonna watch because honestly his takes could convince me this show is on Arcane's level lmao. Bye bye <3 

[ravenalla]

Just watched the new helluva episode and..ugh okay opinions under the cut.

Some people are saying this episode is better than the others of season 2. And while visually it’s stunning and not as directly insulting as some of the others, I think this episode is one of the best examples of how these writers don’t understand pacing, comedic timing, or creating a coherent plot. The cuts between locations happen way too fast, some scenes feel like they were written under a minute just to add fluff (like the Moxxie hat fight, Blitz talking with the woman in the waiting room and the entire joke once again just being a character saying curse words or insults multiple times in a sentence, camera crews conveniently being at the hospital to see Stolas hurt for some reason.) Also god Stella. At least when they made her a one-dimensional boring villain she was competent at being one. Now she just looks like a whiny idiot so they could have her brother be there for no reason.

Speaking of which, that was a damn terrible introduction to Andrealphus. Unless your following updates about the show on Twitter, you don’t know who the fuck that is, why he’s here or what his connection to either Stella or Stolas is until now, there’s only been one passing mention she even had a brother before this. He’s just suddenly there with no proper introduction, and then Striker just appears now to kidnap Stolas in front of tons of other people (I guess him trying to kill Stolas with the angelic weapon hidden in the shadows didn’t matter that much after all) and take him back to an underground lair he has for some reason. He also brings up the classist system and Stolas’s bigotry but it doesn’t matter because he hurt the poor uwu prince baby 🙄 I swear it feels like this show is AI generated at this point, or at the very least the writers know that the pretty animation and shipping fuel will keep diehard fans around so they don’t actually have to make anything tightly written and can just do whatever random hodgepodge of scenes and dialogue they like. Which whatever its clear this show is just “the sex joke” show most of the time, but don’t then try to tell me this is some masterclass of writing and character development when the entire climax of Stolas and Blitz’s relationship problems at Ozzie’s was addresses ENTIRELY OFFSCREEN THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES. Even if you ship Stolas and Blitz, how the hell can you accept that? That’s the sloppiest way they could have handled that, I don’t even like this show and I feel disrespected lmao.

And just the way they tried to make us “feel” for their relationship this episode. Why the hell would Blitz be so shocked Stolas could get hurt, you literally fought Striker before because he was two seconds away from killing Stolas instantly otherwise?? You were hired to be his bodyguard in one episode! Like yeah maybe actually seeing it happen is causing the reality of it to sink in for Blitz, but everything we’ve been shown so far INCLUDING IN THIS EPISODE shows how much he does not care that much about Stolas and at best has a mild acceptance of him (at least outside of seeing stars which everybody’s already talked about how weird that entire thing was). I literally have no idea why we are suppose to be rooting for these two to get together at this point. It’s just watching uwu Stolas get hurt over and over again so we can pity the guy and wonder why Blitz wont love him boohoo 🙄 it’s annoying and not fun to watch. Also this might be more of a nitpick, but did anyone else think characters looked weirdly off model a lot in this episode? Like yeah the animation was impressive at some points during the action scenes but during regular dialogue it looked like it was done by a completely different studio than the other episodes, especially with Stella, Andrealphus, Millie, and Moxxie. Not sure what that’s about or if I’m just imagining it.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

@intertexts okay before i answer the second trigger question i NEED to talk about the trickster/clarence/mal backstory. fuck . okay. you know the drill. nhw essay under the cut:

ok first off this is the required listening for reading this post bc ive imagined all of this in the form of an animatic (trickster pov). there was like a 4-hour span of time at work one day last week where i just had this song on repeat and zoned out thinking abt this while i did absent cleaning tasks. so thats how u KNOW im insane

ok so i still havent thought of a name for the city. but ive been thinking about this city as a parallel equivalent to the spirit world. ironically, its a city that doesnt have a huge parahuman population, so its relatively quiet. the cape presence is pretty small. the lead hero in the city is Whisperer (aka clarence albert), a striker/mover/stranger. he can fly, turn invisible (NOT intangible!!!!!!!!), and if he can get a hand on someone he can calm their emotions just by touching them. it's effectively like a tranquilizer, except theyre not asleep theyre just not feeling whatever strong emotions led them to causing trouble in the first place. (thinking abt this like a touch-based version of the calm emotions spell in dnd, its concentration so the effect is limited to when hes actually touching someone. when he lets go, theres a small window of time before they reorient themselves and are back to whatever they were feeling before) (this is to parallel the idea that the whisperer can pull chaos spirits out of possessed people like william did to atlas).

anyway. distracted. Whisperer's partner was originally a rogue named Ghoul, a huge hulking Brute cape who didnt really cause many serious problems but was a huge disturbance to the local people just beacuse of his monstrous appearance. Clarence confronted him and Ghoul dropped his changer form to reveal mallard conway, a man who had only recently triggered and was essentially.. lost. directionless. he didnt know what to do with his powers, since they were so... different. hes a master/changer/brute, with the ability to create strong illusions and influence people in his regular form, but can change forms to be a hulking monster with brute strength. essentially both brains and brawn in one guy. clarence asks him something along the lines of "well if you have nowhere else to go, why not come wiht me?" and basically. takes him under his wing? i guess? its not like he trains him, but just by being around clarence, mal learns what its like to be.. good. not selfish and heartless. clarence isnt much involved with capes from other cities since their own is pretty quiet, so his main focus is to just kind of keep the peace. keep the balance.

this goes on for... a long time. clarence and mal (whisperer and purgatory << mal's new hero name) are basically inseparable. call it love, call it brotherhood, call it a one-sided hero worship crush on mal's end. who knows. theyre secretive, not in the public eye much unless they need to be. UNTIL. some new villain triggers and is an IMMEDIATE s-class. now i have a couple different ideas for how and why exactly the trickster triggers and where he comes from but honestly im okay with leaving it a mystery for now. one day he shows up like a natural disaster. it becomes a situation VERY similar to nilbog- the prt forces get called in, they try to take him down with non-capes first since hes a high leveled master and they dont want him to immediately gain super powerful puppets to control. this,, does not work and basically just feeds him fodder to make his numbers grow VERY quickly. Whisperer and Purgatory (mostly whisperer) can't sit back and watch this Trickster guy just keep absorbing innocents into his masses and use them to do his dirty work anymore, so Whisperer wants to confront him. I think Purgatory tries to hold him back at first (mainly due to the fear of losing him, but he words it as "we're not supposed to, if either of us get caught it would be so much worse for everyone involved"). Whisperer does not listen to him and goes anyway; hes convinced that with his power, all he needs to do is touch Trickster and everything will be so much easier to handle once hes out of commission. the fight DOES NOT GO THIS WAY. clar and mal actually are able to fight their way up to the trickster, clarence gets a hand on him.. but his power doesnt work. theres this moment where the trickster freezes like maybe something did happen, but then clarence realizes like... he cant feel anything. i think usually he can tell what sort of emotion he's repressing when he uses his power; sort of innately understands what sort of effect hes having on a person, but with the trickster it jsut feels like. nothing. theres nothing there. and then he starts laughing and breaks the silence and turns around to grab clarence and hurt him in some way. mal is preoccupied; hes fighting off puppets as theyre sort of swarming the area, allowing clarence a moment to use his power... and then he sees whats happening.

i dont think trickster is particularly strong on his own. but. i mean. his name is trickster. i think he probably keeps some sort of secret weapon on him. knives in his coat to make the "ive got a trick up my sleeve" joke. he slashes clarences throat, doesnt even bother trying to control him. what would he want with a power like that anyway? clarence is basically his antithesis- calming instead of chaos. that sort of power is almost like an insult to him. so he kills him. clarence is laying there bleeding out, trickster is laughing over him, mal drops everything and runs over to clarences side, trying desperately to talk to him or stop the bleeding or ANYTHING. he dies in mals arms. mal fucking. fully snaps. instant brute form, he wants to tear the trickster limb from limb, kill anything that moves around him etc etc etc. in his rage, hes not really fighting very well, hes leaving himself vulnerable, theres a lot of openings etc etc. trickster fucks up his face pretty bad (this is how he gets those big scars like he has in canon).

however, MALS powers are more fun so he doesnt outright kill him. its harder to take control of him both because of his current rage state and also the fact that hes also a master and part of mals power kind of cancels out some of the tricksters control. so instead of puppeteering him right away, trickster forces him out of the city. he of course tries to keep going back in, but at that point the PRT has made the decision to put the city under quarantine and just let him take it. they keep mal from going back in. (clarence's body is still in there. he doesnt even get a burial.) . you know how mannequins main thing is that he was originally a hero that was driven crazy by the simurgh attack that killed his wife and daughter? yeah thats what happened to mal. he was just totally unreachable after this. clarence basically saved his life, was his best and only friend, was his mentor, was the person who taught him how to be good... and now hes gone. what else does mal have left. he goes back to being called Ghoul. he joins the s9. his rage and grief eventually settle into a manipulative calm, and he starts using his master powers more than his brute powers, to get what he wants from people.

aaaand then . years later. he sees the new wards team on tv, and theres a hero with a cape that looks achingly familiar. surely it cant be him, clarence is dead, has been dead for years... but there he is. theres his costume. this new hero is even ghost-themed. as smart and manipulative and greasy as mal is i think theres a fundamental piece of him thats just. really irreparably unhinged. seeing something that reminds him of clarence again drives all common sense out of his mind and he defaults to "thats him" even though he would logically know that its not. and thats why hes so obsessed with wibby. he knows this new cape calls himself Wraith, but like. capes change their names all the time! mal even did it himself once! maybe if he calls him Whisperer enough times, he'll remember who he is.

theres some more to this plotwise that mostly just deals with. the plot. but i feel like this is a good setup for mals whole thing :]

[commenter2]

The Show Must Go On episode review (Hazbin Hotel S1 finale)

The finale of season 1 of Hazbin Hotel. MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW! Also long post warning

Did the title of the episode strangely remind anyone else of the failed videogame “Showdown Bandit”? Anyone?

Charlie wishing her mom was there. Likely foreshadowing her appearing near the end.

Charlie really likes a man in uniform. Maybe take some notes on that Vaggie XD.

Looks like we got a glimpse at how Niffy sees the world, which is apparently similar to Randy Cunningham when as the Ninja.

Again CHARLE=PURITY

I’m not liking how Pentious said that quote about living and dying.

During Al’s speech, you can see Charlie realizing that Pen likes Cherri and being happy for him. Charlie is Pen X Cherri shipper confirmed XD

Could Al be really starting to care about the others?

Angel X Husk and Pen X Cherri fanservice, Charlie liking the last one XD

Oh now Cherri is interested in Pen.

COME ON, KISS YOU TWO! YES!!!

Gross, Adam’s personality is rubbing off on Lute. Even Adam is getting uncomfortable with it and considering its Adam that’s saying something.

The Heaven Bucks things sounds really fake, mostly cause I feel like money doesn’t exist/is necessary for Heaven.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE OUTFITS CHARLIE AND VAGGIE ARE WEARING!?! And why am I getting She-Ra/RWBY vibes from them? Also Charlie is wearing her crown, cute.

I’m intrigued by Charlie’s shield cause I was kind of expecting to see Charlie use her pitchfork along with it, but the shield is still a nice bit of symbolism for how she wants to protect people and not harm anyone…that much. It also shows that she and Vaggie are a great team/couple as Charlie is the defense while Vaggie is the offense.

My fellow DEATH BATTLE fans (which is hopefully a lot of you) get ready to analyze Charlie’s powers, skills, and feats in this fight!

Al’s shield being another feat of how powerful Alastor is, though I wonder if his recent deal with Charlie helped with it?

Aww come one Niffty finally has a chance to go all psycho and all we see is her just stabbing corpses!

While Charlie’s crown is black on the outside, its gold on the inside/other side. Not only do I think this is a Dante’s Inferno reference (it reminds me of the hypocrites’ part but reversed) it also symbolizes how even though she is the daughter of the Devil, Charlie is still a good person.

Alastor’s using shadow jutsu!

OK I DID NOT SEE AL’S VOICE CHANGING after his cane got destroyed. At least this explains how those times I noticed his voiced changed in previous episodes.

Valentino was really saddened when Vox said seeing Alastor about to die was better then sex XD. It’s also funny cause there is a similar line in Netflix’s Castlevania series, which I could definitely see fans making parodies of soon.

Wait WTF is going on now with his voice? Ugh.

That’s our Charlie, even when in a war she is still apologizing. Also her glitter is WAY more effective than Dale Gribble’s pocket sand XD

Also if you slow down the scene enough, you can see that Charlie’s shield damaged and dented the angelic spear, meaning its likely made of something stronger then the angelic steel mentioned by Carmilla in “Hello Rosie”

Charlie shooting fireworks from her fingertips, a nice example of her powers AND a callback to the pilot.

NO NOT THE EGGBOIS! Luckily Angel finally used his secret set of arms to save one of them, we even get to hear his theme song.

And Pen X Cherri fans REJOICED! Also again showing how shallow Cherri can be.

Aww this can’t be goWHAT THE FUCK! I couldn’t even finish writing this sentence because of how fast Pen’s death was! I mean it was implied he was going to die but I thought it be more dramatic than that! Can the Helluva Boss writers at least do this for when they finally kill Striker, or have it happen in my episode idea where Moxxie and his father in law do it?

OOO ITS TIME FOR CHALIE’S DEMON FORM. And in a Sailor Moon kind of way too.

WAIT THAT’S IT? It’s just her regular horns and a tail. The writers really need to amp up these “full demon” forms of the characters as this, Ozzie’s, and Mammon’s forms have been really disappointing to me especially when compared to Stolas and even Helsa’s odd form from the pilot. I hope that this is some kind of semi form or one of many transformations of Charlie’s, and her REAL demon form is something more monstrous but it results in her losing control.

I do like Razzle and Dazzle being dragons, as I did recall them having such a power but this is better than what I was thinking they’d transform into.

DAZZLE NO! At least he died protecting Charlie.

VAGGIE VS. LUTE ROUND 2 (ding ding sound effect from episode)

(Adam slaps Charlie) Again we need fanart of Lucifer and Lilith kicking Adam’s ass.

So a part of me likes that Vaggie spared Lute cause it shows she is better than the so called “angel”, but a part of me knows this is going to bite back later on.

Lute riping her own arm off just proves the previous statement. Still I wonder what a cyborg angel will be like.

You can control fire and shoot fireworks from your fingers, you these things to make Adam let go of you Charlie!

SO Adam is wearing a mask, like I brought up before. I wonder what he looks like under it.

I’m not mad at Lucifer coming in late, cause he likely couldn’t as he probably realized it would just lead to more problems involving Heaven, but again he shows that he is the best dad so far in the series by coming in to save Charlie. Take notes Stolas!

Huh, Adam looks pretty normal looking, even looks a bit like Lute. I was expecting something really ugly under the mask like a pale complexion, sweat, and an unshaven face especially since he has worm that the entire time we have seen him.

OH HO now were getting that Adam ass kicking. Too bad that line from Lucifer kind of ruined it. I mean I can kind of see it being on brand with his goofy personality but still.

Again no one is saying Lilith’s name here. Also I know Lucifer is likely joking about him and Eve being together and just referencing the apple, but I really want to hear Lucifer say he’s only been with Lilith for all his life, then took a break after the divorce.

“NOT THE HOTEL”, is what I would be saying if the trading cards weren’t released early. Still devastating to see.

Like when Adam was choking her, Charlie had the means to save herself there as she is confirmed to have wings. Maybe their waiting for a special occasion to use them.

(Charlie transforms) What was that? At least this confirms that Charlie can transform and confirm that hoove/foot idea I brought up in the last review. I wonder if this is some kind of power from her mother?

Okay Lucifer’s demon form is pretty good. This does make me wonder what that shadow thing of his form the pilot is, if that is still canon. Hopefully it is and it confirms that Charlie can have multiple demon forms.

Holy crap they killed Adam off and Death by Niffy no less! I mean I wanted Adam and Lute to get out of the picture so someone better could take the role of angelic antagonist, but I never thought they would just kill Adam off. At least Vaggie is really happy about this, and I don’t blame her XD. It’s nice to see her smile like this.

Again we see that Lucifer has restraint, which is still interesting.

Lute took his halo. I sense some trouble coming from this. Fingers crossed that it involves how Heaven is okay with Adam being gone, and Lute becoming the thing she hates to destroy Hell AND the “traitors” of Heaven.

I’m still mix on Katie Killjoy being voiced by Brandon. It is making me wonder if Katie was always going to be like this or if they’re altering her to be more like Brandon’s female characters like Bryce. I mean I always though Katie would have a role where she just keeps spreading bad things about Charlie’s hotel, even making things up/ hire others to cause trouble for Charlie so the news can keep reporting on her. Heck she is even thanking them which I never saw pilot Katie never doing through she could be doing it to save face on livestream television. It’s still a funny idea and it has even remined me that there was a time in animation where shows had reoccurring characters whose main thing about them was being obvious references to other fictional or even real characters like Total Drama had characters such as Harold being a Napoleon Dynamite parody and Anne Maria referencing Snooki, Dr. Orpheus from the Venture Bros. was a cheap Dr. Strange knockoff (but still really funny), and there is one character in Atop the 4th Wall that I won’t spoil here cause it’s that crazy, so check it out for yourselves when you can.

Another cameo of Baxter and ARACKNISS!

I also wonder if the Exterminations will be put to a halt here as pointed out in the sliding text on the news channel. It would be interesting to see if Hell really does have an overpopulation problem, and what that would look like.

I’m surprised the V’s aren’t reacting to this more, more so with Vox but it’s likely that he saw the fight with Adam and Alastor and now has a plan on destroying Alastor. That would be cool to see in the next season.

THANK GOD FAT NUGGETS SURIVED! I think VIvzie would have had a riot on her hands if she allowed him to die.

Lucifer said the episode title!

So it looks like Alastor DID care for the others, but now he is dedicated to getting his freedom back from what I still think could be the Lilith imposter who will also be an upcoming deadly force/threat

KeeKee has a Keyblade form!

Yeah Vox and Val are definitely going to use this news for personal gain. The real question is if Velvette will aid them, as her recording them say all this feels like she will try and go out on her own, dragging her allies down in the process. Fitting given her song from “Scrambled Eggs”.

Nice song, great that both Sir Pentious AND Dazzle got memorials, and the new hotel looks amazing as it has a little bit of symbolism from all the others like Husk’s casino vibe and Angel’s career.

PEN IS IN HEAVEN! Emily is loving it while Sera looks confused and scared, BOTH cause she has never saw this happen before or knows that this will kick off some serious consequences like a version of the Armageddon prediction. This is great as now even if the recent fan theory of Emily becoming a fallen angel happens, Charlie now has another ally in Heaven to help spread her redemption plan on that side of things, great for what I can see happening in the next season.

Oh hey everyone its “Lilith��. Yeah I still believe in the “Imposter Lilith” theory that I’ve been talking about lately, and the sunglasses bit adds to it since it is hiding her eyes, like how her face was covered in “Dad Beat Dad”. Plus there have been many times in stories where sunglasses were used to hide something in fiction. Also in the past, we’ve gotten info on her saying how she would like to fight against Heaven, so its odd that she would want sanctuary in it unless she has plans that involve her being there. The biggest clue would have to be that the real Lilith would likely have cheered when she heard Adam was dead. I did talk about how the Imposter could likely want to destroy everything, so for all we know she is pretending to be Lilith who wanted sanctuary in Heaven (if they even know she is there) which is all just a ruse to get info on how to destroy Heaven to fulfill her life’s work and if anything ever happens, the Imposter can rely on her servant Lute and the Exorcist to aid her.

I will admit that it COULD be the real Lilith. I did make a recent post on my Tumblr going over how I think Lilith actually recruited the Imposter to help her take down Heaven a peg a long item ago, but she eventually realized the Imposter had bigger plans that involved destroying everything in existence and Lilith has since been trying to stop the Imposter. At one point things could have gotten so bad to a point that she had to hide in Heaven (again if they even know she is there) until she thought of a plan to stop it like having Lute work for her (again maybe Al works for the Imposter) and similar to what I have in my “Season 1 is a test for Charlie” Lilith knew Adam wasn’t up for the task of defending everyone from the Imposter, so she had to install Lute as leader of the Exorcist so there would be at least a small capable army to fight against the Imposter/upcoming threat if things got bad. However now that Charlie’s redemption plan is getting more support and is proven to be true, Lilith could be scared that the Imposter could go after her and Lucifer next, so I think next season she will try and convince Charlie to stop her goals until they have a plan of stopping the Imposter. Maybe since she made a deal with Lute, she has no choice but to stop Charlie or risk losing the one chance they have at saving everything from the Imposter…until she learns that her daughter was able to make an army to stop the Exorcist which could lead to Lilith changing her mind and maybe think that Heaven and Hell should work together to stop the Imposter/big threat. Even then there could be consequences as we don’t know what exactly happens if a deal with a demon is ever broken. Would said demon die or would the natural of the forces of the universe go crazy until something happens? For any non Percy Jackson fans and those that don’t care about spoilers for it, look up “Trials of Apollo” and “River Styx” to get an understanding of what I mean by broken deals.

That was a GREAT episode AND a great finale for the first season of Hazbin Hotel.

We got tons of action, drama, suspense, fanservice, and mystery just like how I like my shows. The finale was really good cause its on track for what I’ve been saying I would like to see Charlie go through when it comes to the next step of trying to convince the people of Heaven and Hell her redemption plan is a good thing in general for the afterlife.

The only minor problems I have with it is that they didn’t utilize Niffty as much as I thought they would in the battle.

When it comes to the season as a whole it was great, with episode 4 being the worst as we all knew those events were coming but thanks to Helluva Boss it was made less serious to me.

I also agree with other fans that biggest problem the season had was that there should have been more episodes. I mean people know how popular Hazbin Hotel AND Helluva Boss is so it’s a bit odd that they didn’t get more then 8 episodes, especially since they aren’t the usual hour long episodes that are everywhere. Not to mention how half the season came out all at once here on Amazon Prime.

Apparently this is a big problem with Amazon Prime shows in general, BUT luckily given how well received the whole season has been (wordplay pun not intended), I’m hopeful that this will convince the people at A24 and Prime to give Vivzie and the HH cast more funding to make MORE episodes for next season, like maybe 14 this time. Sure this could delay the release of season 2, which is apparently already being made, but I bet I’m not alone when I say I’d be okay with such a delay if it means more Hazbin Hotel.

Hopefully next season though there are less trailers and clips released, another reason why there should be more episodes to help dimmish such things, AND if there is another early release on A24 it should just be like 2 days before the season comes on Amazon Prime and NOT a whole week.

I’m also calling it now that the season 2 episode premiere of Hazbin Hotel will start with a news segment with Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench recapping some of the events of last season and telling us what has happened to both the characters and Hell/Heaven since the finale. I also predict that Lilith, whether the real one or the Imposter posing as her, will appear at the end of said episode starting off that season’s main story.

I definitely want to hear your thoughts on not only this episode, but also on the entire season so don’t be shy. What do you think/hope will happen in season 2? What kind of episodes or stories would you like to see in the next season? What theories do you have?

LET ME HEAR IT!!!

[abrisaber]

I think the reason why Helluva Boss's newest episodes are so awful is because the writers have no idea how to make conflicts.

Every time an antagonist comes back they always exist to only illicit conflict and nothing else.

Crimson represents a life that Moxxie wanted to leave behind. The ending of the episode he debuted in shows that he's quite literally after Moxxie's life. But then he comes back, not in relation to Moxxie, Moxxie's not even in the episode, but instead to bring Striker into the picture. And of course what purpose does Striker serve other than to spew "eat the rich" propaganda that serves no real purpose since we quite literally never see any real examples of prejudice in Hell against Imps aside from Stolas being a creep and a child calling Blitzo an "Imp slur" I guess.

Dhorks and the Cherubs both represent how there are bigger parties involved that are after IMP and how shit is going to hit the fan for them, and with the introduction of Heaven in Hazbin Hotel, a show that CONFIRMED to take place in the same place that Imp has their fucking office, things could get really bad really fast. But yet again their only purpose was to install comic relief conflict into the plot of an episode that absolutely did not need a B-Plot. There will be no connecting ties between Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel despite the fact that it would be more logical if it did, or if, at the very least, they came up with an actual reason for why the shows don't matter to each other that isn't just "copyright." Heaven wants to suppress Demonkind but when Demonkind does something that goes directly against what Heaven is trying to do, i.e drive more human souls into hell with their antics on Earth (a place they were claiming to try to protect), they just don't fucking care. Not even a little bit.

And Stolas, oh boy Stolas. Blitzo needs to realize his actions have consequences right? But oh no it appears Vivziepop has written herself into another fucking circle by having Stolas also be a piece of shit, and everyone in Blitzo's life be a piece of shit, so now there's no one to call Blitzo out anymore!! What's the solution? Just have Stolas be the victim. You know how he manipulated Blitzo into the deal, love bombed him constantly despite Blitzo visibly showing zero interest, and then acted embarrassed when he was actually called out for being a cheating scumbag? Yeah none of that matters. Blitzo hurt his feeeewings because he didn't reciprocate Stolas's borderline harassment and didn't drop his entire life just be play his knight and shining armor. Blitzo having a bunch of bitter exes who hate his guts and want him dead despite the fact that we don't know what he did to them aside from a few comments about Blitzo's absolutely minuscule actions towards a bunch of randos is entirely justifiable because he's mean! Even though literally fucking everybody is mean.

Nothing in this show matters. Not the world building, not the conflicts, nothing. Every single episode exists in it's own individual conflict bubble despite the fact that it claims it's serialized. It claims to have multiple main characters but only two of them have ever gotten any actual noteworthy "development" and the rest are left out to dry in favor of the supporting cast. This show has potential to have so much more interesting and better established stories but it's creators have NO FUCKING CLUE WHAT THEY'RE DOING!!! They don't know how to create conflict, they don't know how to write believable character relationships, they don't know how to develop characters, they don't know how to divide story focus between characters accordingly, they don't know who the main characters are and who the side characters are, and they have absolutely not a motherfucking goddamn SLIVER of a clue WHAT KIND OF SHOW THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE. They. Do. Not. Know.

This rant makes absolutely no sense but I had to get this shit out of my head or I might've exploded and died.

[chaifootsteps]

when Harvest Moon came out I honestly thought it was a bad, bad idea to get Norman Reedus to voice Striker

don't get me wrong, I think his voice is better suited for the character than Ed Bosco's (no hate to him, the OG voice just hits different) but even at the time it struck me that they would either have to vastly minimize Striker's role or just recast him later down the line. it's a bad idea to get big stars to play major parts or antagonists because they'll have scheduling conflicts and won't be able to appear in future episodes

it's why people keep comparing to the Nicki Minaj situation - that resulted in Sugilite just rarely appearing again or not talking when she did appear. and that's a way easier thing to write around than Striker, who is a major antagonist. Same with Paimon - it means he can't easily appear again unless they recast him and then the audience will notice the difference

I didn't think it was a bad idea in and of itself, but it was a bad idea to set Striker up as a character who was going to be recurring and vital to the plot. If Striker had died in Harvest Moon, disappeared into the night never to be seen again, or just disappeared and then reappeared much later but it was never a given thing, then maybe give him a fancy voice actor who might never come back.

But of course Viv's not about planning or the story, Viv's about bragging rights.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Here's an interesting request. It mostly focuses on the reader finally making the perfect version of the Butcher Gang (Including Carley)

Whoever thought it was a great idea to "reverse-engineer" the Butcher Gang to fix their monstrous appearances was clearly an idiot.

It was sloppy work, only succeeding in making them look even worse than the first time they emerged from the Machine. And it never stopped cranking out clones of them, who eventually overran many parts of the studio and led to Lost Ones and all other trapped within fear them.

They weren’t even called their original names anymore..only Piper, Striker, Fisher, and Slicer.

It was quite sad that people like Allison didn’t remember their true names. You always knew them as Charley, Edgar, Barley, and Carly.

Yes, even you considered Carley to be a worthy member of the gang, a tough and sassy lass. You adored the idea of her in the cartoons, but unfortunately her creator’s dream was never realized, as both of them became the laughing stock of JDS.

After replaying Jane’s tape a few times, you understood how much this character resonated with her. It reminded you of Susie and Alice Angel’s connection, in a way, but you knew how that turned out--with them becoming one and the same, striving for beauty and perfection that was always somehow just out of their reach.

Though now that the studio’s power was in your hands, you could improve upon things within the Cycle. You were able to make significant changes that guaranteed a better life for everyone trapped inside.

Among them? Giving Susie the perfection she desired.

But then you wondered, ‘why can’t I do the same with the Butcher Gang?’

After all, you pitched the idea of bringing the crew back when Archgate purchased the franchise. Despite them being the show’s antagonists, you wanted them to have a sense of wholeness, too.

While you may never know what happened to Jane, you hoped to at least make Carley an official part of the gang; if not in the real world, then perhaps in this world it was possible.

But unfortunately, even she faced rejection here, as during your first trip in the Cycle, you found a Slicer shoved into a crate near that tape. She seemed dead, though the moment you looked away...she was gone.

True to her character, she was quite the trickster, with aggression to boot as she would startle you often. She’d lunge out at you when you least expected it, swiftly retreating to the ink pipes before you can catch her. And you’d have little time to think as irritable Lost Ones would come along to investigate the commotion.

Fortunately, you’re now able to anticipate her better, keeping the crate shut tight in some Cycles, while in other you tried out ways to contain her with little success.

But you finally devised a method, believing you could finally give her the life her creator wanted:

One with a perfect Butcher Gang quartet.

The first order of business was capturing the clones with the help of traps set up by Porter, Tom, Allison, Bendy, and Henry. Then you banished all the ones you could until no more could be found.

Back in the real world, you were at the drawing board--in a literal sense--and made a bunch of 2D references to run through the Machine, before returning to the studio to see what happens. 

It was just a series of trial-and-error. Some clones emerged as monsters, others far worse..and some even fused together.

You had no idea how all of those perfect Boris clones were created. Even the Ink Demon had doubts that you’ll succeed (though only because he still has that same grudge against them, akin to his toon counterpart).

Nevertheless, you refused to give up.

Then one day you visited Little Devil’s Lounge...and finally made a breakthrough:

At one of the tables sat four perfect Butcher Gang members right before your very eyes.

Charley, Edgar, Barley, and even Carley were all there. They were apparently gambling on slugs, as you heard the clinking of coins and laugher that sounded perfectly normal for their characters. Carley was arm-wrestling with Barley, as the other two cheered them on, applauding as she won the first round.

Your heart was soaring with joy, seeing them so alive and animated. 

You did it! 

After putting all of your blood, sweat, tears, and ink into this project...you made them real!

As much as you wanted to meet them right away, they seemed to be having a grand old time by themselves. You didn’t wanna startle them like you did when you saw Bendy for the first time.

Besides, considering they’re an actual gang, they might just bring you trouble, seeing as the toons here still didn’t take too kindly to their creators. You understood this as shared resentment over Joey, but it would be a while before they ever warmed up to you.

Maybe another day you’ll introduce yourself to them. You were satisfied with just seeing them in the inky flesh.

So you simply smiled and walked away without them noticing you, eager to tell your friends the great news.

‘It seems dreams do come true down here, after all..’

[vashtijoy]

If Akechi's story were to continue, how would you want it to go ideally?

Ohh, anon, where to start.

First off, I want to know what's happening in the true ending. Why is he with that team at the station? Because there are two almost-identical groups there—one is in the car chasing down the Phantom Thieves and Joker, but one is walking past at the station with Akechi. And he doesn't look like he's there voluntarily. So is he working with them against his will? Have they captured him? Is he pretending to cooperate and playing traitor again? Is he actually cooperating? Is he the guy the car suits are talking to on the mic? Is he looking down like that because he knows Joker's on the train and doesn't want to see him? Does Joker know he's alive, are they in contact or even conspiring? I WANT TO KNOW GODDAMMIT TELL ME

Some people say the guys in the suits are part of the continuity conspiracy (which will pop up later in Strikers). I like the idea that they're some faction or other of the Kirijo Group. One thing's for sure, though: they aren't the police.

Once we get that plot out of the way—assuming Akechi survives it, because he's a good candidate for an actual onscreen death—we really get into fanfic territory, shit that doesn't make good video games. How does he develop, given who he's been and what he's done? How does he live with that as he grows and changes? What happens as he slowly connects to others, as he forms confidants of his own? How does he do better? How does he make amends—does he make amends? He wants to leave it in the past and live in the present, but life's not like that; he's not like that. Akechi is his past. His whole life he's been fixated on his past, on the wrongs done to him, on the revenge he wanted. And we're meant to believe that in the third semester, when he's got absolutely nothing left, he just goes yep, not thinking about the past any more? Of course he thinks about it all the damn time. He's going to obsess about it despite himself.

What about the police? What about Sae? If he's going to have a story, he can't just turn himself in—but does he try? Does he believe it's the end of his path? Why isn't he executed? Why isn't he in jail? What about justice for his victims? How culpable is he, overall? He believes he's entirely culpable, that he chose his path all along. But did he?

What about the Metaverse being gone? How does he feel about it, deep down? For years it's a place only he can go. It's his place. Does he think of it as his only real home? As his domain, his place of power? The one place he's truly safe, even as shit attacks him from all sides? Like, never mind that it's obviously the place he goes to be himself as best he can, to vent all the shit that builds up in his day-to-day life. What does it do to him, not having that outlet? Is he homesick for it? Does he crack?—I'd be amazed if he didn't. So what does that look like?

And what does he do? Don't forget, Akechi is a murderer. That's his preferred skillset; that's what he wants to do, what he enjoys doing. What he really brings to the team in the third semester appears to be pure ruthlessness and a will to be the one who kills when it's necessary. So if he somehow gets to have a life, how does he avoid living with anticlimax for the rest of his days? What does he even offer the world?—or a society in which people like him can have no place?

He's done everything interesting he will ever do. He's been as interesting as he'll ever be. Does he miss what he was? Does he miss what he did? Does he miss Shido, even, who was his only family, who praised him and needed him so completely? Does he get mixed up with Mitsuru somehow, just to keep him out of jail, to give him some kind of place and purpose? How would he view that? Another rich, powerful asshole trying to control him?—very much nty, he'll rot in jail first.

And what about Joker? What about the Phantom Thieves? Does he have a place with them? Or will he always be an outcast, tolerated at best, unable to connect? How do those relationships play out over years, over a lifetime?

Akechi has made a lot of mistakes and a lot of bad choices. In the third semester he's pretty much broken as a person, after what seems to have close to a change of heart. I'd really like to see him slowly develop and learn and change. I'd like to see him find something to live for besides killing. So to really answer your original question—I want him to live. I want him to slowly learn that there can be things in the world for him, and people who want him for himself. I want him to come to a place where he can start to do better because he's chosen to—likely still in a ruthless and mercenary way, that's just who he'll always be, but still doing better. Because punitive justice doesn't put anything right, not really. And it makes for boring fanfic, too.

tl;dr: Atlus, return my child.

[arcplaysgames]

Anyway I will sum up: the current theory is that by taking people's Desires (the heart gem thing), Alice can control those people and it's probably bad, since when stuff happens to your Shadow it will effect your real self too.

Seems like Alice is trying to lure more people into her Jail so she can alter their cognition. Which given she kinda started as an influencer is so much I wanna die a bit.

also holy crap the textures in this game are sometimes Really Bad lmao. I wonder how P5R looks on the Switch, I might google that later out of curiosity.

Now it's time to investigate Alice herself and turns out Ann has admired her for a while and asked her agency if she could meet Alice, so she's got seats at a TV appearance.

thanks dad-- what the fuck, chaz is here. why does EVERYONE in japanese government hang at Sojiro's place?

Reverie has a full-body flashback to that time about a year and change ago when he sat in this same TV studio (but back when it wasn't made of Mario 64 textures) and shook hands with the love of his life and his star-crossed kismesis. For a moment, the entire dayglo set fades to a single color. Beige. jfc he was sooooo beige.

ANYWAY uh.

Alice tells the story about how she was extremely shy growing up and struggled to overcome it despite how much she wanted to. Then, she saw a beautiful dress in a shop window, and upon putting it on, she felt like a totally different person, like a ray of light had fallen right on her.

And HONESTLY this is the first moment that Ann's entire thing has made sense to me, how becoming a model could inspire people. I think there is more than a few issues with looking at an extremely thing, extremely carefully produced person and going "oh, this is aspirational" but at least the concept makes a little more sense now.

BUUUUUUUUT turns out Alice is not just a victim of her Jail like I proposed, she's a baddie.

Oh okay so she knows what's going on and is doing it on purpose, okay.

That's disappointing.

I'm sorry, Ann. It does suck. Her whole speech about wanting to inspire people like she was, yeah, it sounded like Ann, and Ann's disappointment is even stronger than mine.

I was kinda sad that Jails apparently work pretty similarly to Palaces but also things get SO FUCKING WILD HERE I'm kinda cool with it.

While Reverie is comforting Ann and thinking about it was in this very hallway where he met a beige boy he almost changed the universe to have a second chance with, Alice just SHOWS UP AND

oh my god

THIS GAME IS OFF IT'S FUCKING SHITS

a fucking pastel pink ultra-cosplayer keeps stepping on people, this game. oh my god. i'm crying its so good.

I think we can fix Alice without stealing her heart, all we gotta do is introduce her to the Domme lifestyle and teach her about scenes, boundaries, and consent. There is a historic top shortage going on and she could really find her niche.

this is clearly not a negotiated scene, so Ann and Reverie run in to break it up. take it to the kink dungeon, girly, this ain't the venue. SSC or RACK, pick one.

Alice actively tries to get Ann and Reverie under her mind control shit?????

OKAY SO she is like fully aware of the cognitive world? It feels like she's pretty in-tune with her Shadow. Which usually means the Shadow doesn't stay a separate being but becomes a persona instead.

Instead, with the Jail system, they seem to be keeping separate even as they both work towards the same goals. That's new and strange.

This is definitely setting up some core questions like who made EMMA, how did Alice figure out how it worked, has she been inside the cognitive world or did she just figure out if she friended ppl with EMMA she could control them, and what's going on with the shadow vs real self here?

Regardless, Alice is a delight. I for one am thrilled to have her, but I also fear that Persona 5 Strikers might peak with its first main villain here because where the fuck do you go after evil pastel princess dominatrix? I have no idea.

[pokerninja2]

King K. Rool and his crazy croc army are setting sail, and charting a course for Super Mario Spikers! I thought it would be cool to do a breakdown on all the Kremlings in the roster (so far), including their king. Their designs and personality are a bit grungy compared to the typical Mario fare, so their representation here leans a bit more into the "hardcore" territory, having real dangerous and painful armor and weapons. These are crocodiles you don't wanna mess with!

The king himself is who we'll cover first, of course! Design-wise, he's heavily inspired by his look in Smash Ultimate, which has always been my favorite design of his as it blends everything good about his Rare and "modern" designs seamlessly. For his outfit, he's got body paint and a nice monarch-like collar around his neck. His belly already makes him quite armored, so he doesn't need much protection; he can take on everyone just how he is.

Krown Throw is based on, what else, his boomerang crown move from the first Donkey Kong Country. It's arguably his most iconic move, so why wouldn't it be here? Krazed Kroc, on the other hand, is mostly original, although his stomach glowing green was based on his Gut Check counter in Ultimate.

If there's one thing I'm not 100% on it's the posing. I think it fits him well, but he was made pretty early on in this project, and it looks a little stiff. Plus he's at a weird angle that no other character is, which makes it a little off when put next to them. Maybe if I ever go back and redo some of my older characters I can make him better. Aside from that though, I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

-

Kritter takes what I said earlier about "hardcore" designs and amps it to 11. He's covered from head to toe in armor, and those claw extensions look fierce! There was actually an origin for this armor - concept art for Mario Strikers Charged of all things! I took inspiration mostly from the first design, but I made it a little more "exposed" - both to give this outfit more its own identity, and to fit the Kremlings' aesthetic a bit better. I also took the bigger claws on the feet and put it on the hands, which also looks like Bowser's armor in Charged.

Outside of that though, there's not a ton I sourced from Kritter's game appearances. Kremling Klobber is a fully original move where he piledrives opponents he's close to, it's not from anything, but it's definitely something Kritters would do in a competition like this. Their stats also give them "mobile powerhouse" vibes, which I think suits them well.

-

Next is Klaptrap, probably the second most recognizable Kremling outside of Kritter. The idea behind its design here is obvious - maximize it's biting power! Klaptraps already have strong jaws, so making them much bigger and much more sharp makes them way more dangerous. Killer Klamp makes them bite down on enemies and swing them like a dog - Klaptraps seem a lot more like feral animals than the other Kremlings that walk on two legs, so making them animalistic works out pretty well for them.

It's hard to tell with the metal jaws blocking it, but the design was based on Klaptrap's Assist Trophy in Ultimate, which in turn is pretty much just its Rare design in HD.

And... that's it. Not a lot to talk about Klaptrap. Just a really cool design with some cool abilities. Nice and simple.

-

Klinger stands out among these guys as having the funniest design. Mainly being that he's hitching a ride on those weird blue machines that move on rails from Super Mario World. This wasn't something I initially planned for, because Klingers in DKC2 always move on ropes, so I wanted to find a way to make a moving rope work. At first I thought they could be carried by some unseen flying Kremling and the rope just extends off-screen, but then I thought of these things from SMW and thought these would be a perfect fit.

Kind of goes against the whole "emphasize the Kremlings' badass-ery and hardcore-ness" thing I had going on with them but I don't really care, it's funny lol

That doesn't mean Klinger isn't threatening even with this silly rope though. For one, he still has that big sword of his. I'm pretty sure Klingers carry them in their mouths as they climb, but this time they're slashing enemies with it. Swinging Slasher, like most of the other moves thus far, is pretty much original, but imagine how cool it'd be if a Klinger swung from its ropes and tried to slice the apes in half?

-

And that's about all I have to say about these guys. Kremlings are one of the most unique characters among the extended Mario-verse, and I really wanted to do them justice. I definitely have ideas for more Kremlings, but that's for another day. Overall, I'm really happy with how they turned out.