#i think the killing of workers is...

[osarquivosmagnus]

I think people have said this before and also way better than I could ever articulate but. Cellbit!! His love and devotion to the people he loves. To the people he considers family. How sweet and gentle he is with the eggs, how attentive whether he is babysitting or just spending time with them. How much he cares for the people he considers dear to him, even if they hold different values or don't trust him the same way (jaiden, foolish, maxo...)

It makes me absolutely convinced that it will be SO HARD to just "snap him out" of his current state. (This got longer than I expected i'll put it under the little read more thing)

He isn't consumed by madness on his killing spree, he is consumed by grief, violence and death that has haunted his whole life. From the age of 13 he had to kill to survive, live or earn the respect of people around him. When he arrived at the island he tried investigating, interrogating, manipulating, infiltrating, hiding, scheaming, thinking, sneaking and attacking his way into the federation or anything that could get them close to figuring out how to leave the island. He betrayed his most trusted friends to free his best friend and gather information, he hid from everyone that his son was being threatened with death in order not to put him at risk and all he got from it was more trauma, more manipulation, more loss and stress and fatigue. He IS tired. And he is tired bc he cares. He cares about the ppl stuck in the island with him, he cares about the eggs who were killed or hurt by the codes and he despises that the federation held bobby's death over roier and jaiden's heads. He despises an organization that left an egg (hope) to die, alone and abandoned, who had nothing to them but a notebook where they wrote about wanting to be loved and not be forgotten. How could he have in him any simpathy left for anyone working for such a thing? Someone like him, that has only known violence and the urge to kill, maim and eat his enemies? Someone like him that found out, in the island, months after losing his child, that he could've had a family but was cast away. For a reason he doesn't know, bc they are once again hiding it from him. He could've had a sister, parents and good memories of a (relatively) normal childhood, when he played at being a captain and stole candy to eat and had a worm for a pet. They erased that from him and stopped searching when it was too much of a hassle. And he left a note, as a child, to not trust any of the workers. So how could he trust them?

He is lost. Bagi and bbh are scared he will lose himself but to him, he knows he has been far gone for a while now. All he wants is to hurt the federation and to kill cucurucho. He wants to strike them, he wants them to FEEL it, like he did, the desperation, the fear, the loneliness, the hopelessness and helplessness of it all. And he wants his family to be safe. They are not at risk by his hands. He doesn't want to eat pac, he doesn't want to hurt the eggs, he doesn't want to fight or go behind their backs. He wants to protect them from the thing that took everything from him, including the ability to feel more than the instinct to kill. He is tired. He loves so much. And he is tired of seeing the people he loves being hurt. He is tired of looking into his husband's eyes and seeing emptiness, the loss and the grief all consuming, knowing the federation could've not given them the hope. Could've let them go. Could've explained things to them. Could've been honest about the whearabouts, as little as they know, and the attempts to search for the eggs. But they didn't. And they won't. Cucurucho said so himself: they could have truce, but cellbit WILL pay. He doesn't care. He loves everyone else around him way too much to care about himself. His life in the island is good, he had peace for a while, he met the love of his life, he met his kid(s) and his other new best friend (who was also put into the nether by the federation, of course), and all the friends he made along the way. His promise and talk with slime yesterday showed that: he wants to protect the eggs and anyone that could hurt them.

I guess what I am saying is... it'll be hard to just put him in a room and convince him that he is loved or that the workers have family like him, bc... that's not why he is killing them at all. I understand the desperation in bagi, the sadness in bbh and the fear in pac, but none of that feels like it will be enough bc he is convinced, not after snapping or going insane, but after months and a whole life of horrific torture and trauma and loss that this is the only way to help the people he loves.

So yeah, fucking cellbit. He loves so much it hurts. He is so tired of everything. And he is so violent.

[umblrspectrum]

every ship is simultaneously real and non-real depending on whether it fits my narrative at any given moment. schrodingers ship. schipdinger

[hollowwish]

Biggest pet peeve is when someone says jimmy needs to be portrayed as a pathetic wet cat and not too badass or whatever. Like do u guys know the wet cat behavior is a bit sometimes. Do you guys know he's played into before and will do so again. Do you guys know jimmy has his competent moments and really well roleplayed ones and that's he's not just stupid and bullied and little wet cat all the time. Do we even watch the same damn youtuber

He can be both wet cat and badass and competent. People just don't see the badass moments because theyre probably buried under the "jimmy is only sad bullied wet cat" belief

[suntails]

FINALLY got a better job!!!! somehow i will now work in IT. i do not have IT experience but goddammit i have the desire to earn a beautiful paycheck

[felinelord-bowbeforemepeasant]

REREADING TIME

I have some funfact

I don't know if anyone remember this but I was rereading some of the chapter and I see this note

And yup like the note say is was quite ironic for them to be like this

I think other than the two fukus they really should put fukufuku too but it a note so meh

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

Helluva Boss and its consistent dedication to portraying those who are financially disadvantaged or female as one dimensional bad guys

There is something so genuinely insidious to me in how HB treats financially or otherwise socially disadvantaged characters and makes them the bigots and villains of the show.

Striker is "just a bigot". The one who consistently recognizes and verbally calls out the sham that is the classism of their society, hes selected to be the bigoted character. The one who recognizes that imps are at the bottom despite farming everybody's food and who recognizes the higher classes fetishize them like toys, he's the problem. He's the villain that needs to be defeated.

Striker DOES exert toxic masculinity, no doubt. But toxic masculinity can often be the result of poverty. In my eyes, while they're not excused, it is easier to understand why working class men would believe in toxic masculinity (I say this as a feminist). Their living conditions mean either be masculine or you can't provide and you let down others relying on you. You don't survive, while the most masculine survive the best. Striker has likely learned that being better off relies on frequently exerting toxic masculinity and violence. Does the show humanize him and show this? No, it does not. Instead he is reduced to being a bigot that gets tormented with sex jokes against his will, "like he deserves".

You know maybe there could have even been a plot or something in which he gets hurt and needs to be cared for and he's treated kindly and that makes him realize the value of not always being hyper masculine. Or maybe we could even get to see how him being softer lead to someone he used to care about dying GASP. Oh wait, but they would never extend that kind of humanity or development towards him. Why? Because he antagonized Stolitz, he pointed out the fucked up things about it - an unforgivable crime. Send in the hounds sex jokes.

Striker being treated as just a joke ultimately weakens the writing as it would have been far more satisfying for him to be an antagonist with a point, that really challenges our leads and makes them think. But to do that he would have had to be taken seriously, and there's no way someone in the way of an mlm ship can be taken seriously in this show.

The only way a character can get away with antagonizing Stolitz without becoming one dimensional plot fodder with no humanization is if they're something like Fizz and Ozzie - aka a gay pairing in their own right (that also later make up with Stolitz anyway). It is so telling that out of all the antagonists we've had, Fizz and Ozzie were the first to be redeemed.

Now lets talk about Ozzie. Ozzie, who is a lord with boatloads of money and a sex toy production and club empire, is humanized and seen as a good guy. He is even contrasted by Mammon as "one of the good ones". I will admit I love Ozzie, he is fun. The show at least doesn't guilt you into seeing him as a poor victim like it does with Stolas. But what is it with HB consistently presenting wealthy rich men like they're not part of a larger system of oppression? Why does the show twist itself into knots to ignore their contributions to classism and the harm they do? Ozzie can threaten his worker imps and that's fine/understandable. Meanwhile the only way imps are worth having their own lives and stories explored seems to be if they're paired with one of these rich ruling class "good ones" men.

And aren't they cute, these imps and their ruling class lovers? Just don't think too hard about how, while Ozzie's love may be able to lift Fizz, one single imp, out of being lower class, the system as a whole is designed to keep imps down. If Fizz didn't have Ozzie then he'd still be exploited for profit by another member of the ruling class, he had to rely on a member of the oppressive class falling in love with him to save him - no no, don't think about that, focus on the cute gay!

Verosika is another notable example though I will only talk about her briefly as we don't know too much about her yet and she doesn't tie into the shows thing with those who are financially disadvantaged like Striker (and someone else I'm going to talk about after Verosika). Though Verosika hasn't been totally made into a one dimensional villain with the Ozzie's episode showing her sympathetically (for which I am very thankful), she also has barely been explored. Fizz has had so much time dedicated to showing us his own life. Practically more than Millie has gotten. I do understand he had a huge impact on Blitz's entire life and Blitz is the main character. However, Verosika is still a big chapter, and was wronged by Blitz due to his issues. She was hurt by that, which haunts him. And then she got screwed over again by him in Spring Broken with the bet. So now where is she? Why does Fizz get all extra stuff about the life hes now built for himself while Verosika only exists to be drama in Blitz's past? Oh, right. Verosika's a woman, not a man with a sexy bf. So while she can show up, shes never going to be explored outside of Blitz.

A lot of this strange standard of one dimensionalism being applied to characters depending on whether they either appeal to the shows weird mlm fetishization or gets in the way of it can also be seen with Stella. Stella's treatment is honestly appalling to me.

Just like Stolas, she was also trapped in an arranged marriage from childhood. She had to have sex she didn't want and had to get pregnant and produce a child with a man she didn't love. Except, its not just that. Everything that could be said about Stolas applies to her, and on top of that EVEN MORE does - due to her financial status.

Andrealphus states that now shes produced an heir, she "would get nothing" if Stolas died. So this basically confirms Stella has no real assets. Despite them both being forced into the arranged marriage, its Stolas that owns everything. Her home is Stolas', and without the marriage, she has no home. Now I'm sure there's a good chance she could go and live with Andrealphus or some other relative and would be allowed to do so. But is it really so crazy to still see that her situation is demeaning and awful? From what we can see in the show, the way the Goetia seem to operate is like how it used to be in olden times for women - men own everything. If you don't have a husband who gives to you, then you own nothing. So Stella is even more disadvantaged by the arranged marriage than Stolas is. The only reason she has her wealth and privilege is because she was married off to him and used as a tool. All of her assets belong to the men in her life and she never had any choice in it being that way because she was set up to be put in an arranged marriage with a man that would own everything from childhood.

And yet the show thinks instead of exploring how Stella feels about all that, given the very real world parallels to what women throughout history have faced, apparently it was more appropriate to make her one dimensional so that she could exist for the male characters. She sticks around to torture Stolas with no motivation beyond being hateful for seemingly no reason - because that's all her character got to be. Something for the show's obsession with Stolas torture porn, something to make us feel bad for him, so that Stolitz looks better. If she's a one dimensional abuser then that means we don't have to think about her lack of property ownership and how she was a victim of the arranged marriage even more so than Stolas was. Now we don't have to feel guilty when Stella is left with nothing to her name in the divorce, and she deserves being cheated on too! Yay! Phew! That saved us from thinking about a female character for more than five seconds and from being critical of our rich male fave, thank God!

This show refuses to humanize any characters that oppose Stolitz in any way, especially not if they're female. And its noticeable and obnoxious. The consistent way in which it makes its one dimensional bad guys impoverished or women while also churning out "one of the good ones" woobified rich men that benefit from hell's class system is. Well, its really fucking annoying and skeevy, in my eyes. It reveals that this show at its core is about its mlm pairings and nothing else - the class struggle stuff is there just to add flavour and drama to the mlm pairings. Women are powerful and accomplished but only so they can build and be used for the male characters stories. If you have all this time and all these resources to over and over again show another side to the guy who lauded Blitz's business over his head and said "Continually have fuck sessions with me or I'll end your business" then you can also bother to humanize impoverished imps fed up with the class system and women with no property rights trapped in arranged marriages.

[misterradio]

thinking about how some of david's moments of control over his life are simply choosing to leave a situation. getting suicide-baited by a bridge? just leave. hospital patients are creating a horrible creature? outta here. your daughter is crying? goodbye. like literally if it sucks hit the bricks

[kittykatninja321]

Listen I know this could be seen as another “retroactively painting Jaybin as reckless and violent” moment but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t endeared by this. He’s sooo normal about the people he loves guys

[tgtbata]

another year, still drawing people doing things to each other. you might or might not know this but i started working as a doctor this year and i'm happy/proud it hasn't kept me from still drawing my silly little fictional guys. it's not much but it's honest work.

thank you to everyone who's liking, reblogging and commenting on my art! it means everything to me <3

[ntj2pj]

[veganymph]

“I’m not vegan because of the cruel conditions of agricultural workers” and what about the slaughter workers who are struggling with ptsd? or the people in their household dealing with the violence they bring home? or the workers who go home and attempt to end their literal lives because of the graphic violence they enact daily? you don’t support amazon because of it’s cruel working conditions, yet slaughterhouse workers experience the exact same, if not far worse. you don’t go vegan because of the poor treatment towards people picking vegetables or growing quinoa, yet you don’t solely live off of meat and dairy and are buying unethically sourced vegetables anyways? why would you cause harm to both slaughterhouse workers and vegetable agriculture workers when you could reduce one of them to 0?

[shayberri789]

Thinking of my "blue Sargent aglionby student" au where blue Cross dresses and attends Aglionby again

[whitmore]

a tubbo v cellbit conflict is so interesting bc it hasn’t yet taken a front seat but u can feel it brewing. tubbo disagreeing with how the order dealt with the risus pills, calling it torture, him gearing up to take on Anybody on the island, the inherent conflict that stems from someone surviving on the island for months upon months having to defend their actions to the freshly faced

[visenyaism]

Larys was actively and visibly socializing/scheming/grooming maybe? Alicent while Hawin was sleeping with Rhaenyra. Do you think that Hawin ever think thought that was kinda sketchy? Like the green and black lines were already kinda formed at that point do you think Hawin ever confronted Larys about that? As the commander of the city watch he must have heard weird rumors about his brother (let’s be real, a man as creepy as that has definitely kill a few prostitutes)

i really don’t think harwin wouldve noticed too much he was very wrapped up in his own situation and then been like oh larys is making friends and securing allies and keeping himself safe i guess

[autistic-britta-perry]

I think if Mike woke up during this he'd be on Cellbit's side btw <3 (more from a combination of fear and hate to the federation than from caring about cellbit in any way) and what a terrible situation that'd be for pac

[fanciestgeckofella]

yknow, i think that q!maxo death has a very big potential for having one of the biggest lores in the server, because he is the only one that we have seen dying and not respawning. do you remember that theory that the feds were trying to discover how the islanders can respawn in the first place? they discovered how to make something that is indestructible as far as we know (cucurucho), sure, they kinda have discovered something with the eggs only having 2 lives, but they dont know how to kill something and keep it infinitely coming back. but now qmaxo is dead, and if the feds discover how to kill something that was infinitely reborn before, they might discover how to make something that keeps coming back no matter if theyre dead or not. something that death cant touch, cant hold. something perfect.