#it-be-sad

[ben-the-hyena]

Now that I am back in the Haunted Mansion fandom with fresher set of mind and headcanons, here is finally a good non exhaustive HC info dump for my favorite character the Hatbox Ghost himself for new stuff I've made up or never told before in the tag !

I've been hesitating but in the end I've been influenced by @it-be-sid and accepted it : Hattie is autistic. It fits my take on him of hyperfixating on specific things (my old silly headcanon he is a huge fan of TLK Scar, and canon that he collects hatboxes and is passionate about it) and being great at them, of being an introverted asocial grump who avoids the ballroom and graveyard party because it makes him uncomfortable and requires efforts from him and is more at ease woth the brides in the calm attic, has a hard time making friends and Emily is his big exception and why he has been single and alone for decades prior, hates change and has a hard time adapting to new things and prefers how it was back in his day, and why he enjoys being a scary ghost so much since it allows him to not interact with society anymore and just boo them away. IT ALL MAKES SENSE WHY DIDN'T I EVER THINK OF IT OR ACCEPT IT EARLIER !?

He needs the tiniest spectacles to read, which makes him look nerdy to some and cute to others

As you guys know I HC his name is Randall Pace, from the SLG comics (just the name, not the mentality or origin story though) and that he and most recognizable characters died in 1877 (I DON'T CARE WHAT THE CURRENT CANON SAYS LORE CHANGES ALL THE TIME IN THAT FRANCHISE). He was born in Khansas countryside in 1820. His parents were not dirt poor but they certainly struggled, but were loving and supportive to him and each other, and worked hard at the grocery store to make sure he would have a good life despite his disability (born limping needing a cane and hunchbacked) and could afford his training in hat making which he had found himself to be loving quite early often fixing his parents' hats with glee. Either from the hard work or how life wasn't easy in general, it isn't certain, they died when he was a young man. Grieving and recently new hatter, he didn't feel like staying but starting a whole new life in Louisiana (gonna accept the Mansion is around New Orleans since it's recurring in a lot of canons) far away to make sure they didn't die for nothing and that he would make them proud starting from 0 with his knowledge, his qualification and all the money left

Force of hardworking mixed in with smart working not to die of exhaustion like they did, he little by little became a renowed hatter at the one shop he started at for how efficiently and quickly he fixed hats and quickly learned to make pretty designs popular with ladies. And keeping up with fashion always helped. He was a brilliant employee who workef assiduously and saved a lot until he could open his own business, Pace & Co. He worked alone for a while until he finally could afford himself some employees and teach them how to do it. Good with money anf quality business, by the time he was in his 50's it took him long enough but he had made himself a great fortune. But a mysterious one not very popular among the elited since he never attended society parties lol

He never approved the slavery existing in the south, his humble family having worked and known POC neighbors and treating each other as equals. He always glared with intense disgust at slave owners when they still existed and made them pay much more than needee, and was very glad the war was lost where he was. In fact one of his first employee was a free young black man he had hired, taught and paid very well after he had been freed. When Hattie got married, he was his right wing man and when he died suddenly the very same night, Pace and Co went to him since there was no other heir to the company but him. It still exists to tgis day with a new name (his name is Zeke Holloway. Yeah I know usually I am the first to be annoyed when a character is raceswapped since to me it is obviously unnecessary and to get brownie points BUT I see HM as the same logic as the superhero genre : a ton of continuities where everybody is different from one reality to another, heck the Beating Heart Bride is black in the 2003 movie and Japanese in Tokyo DL lore and Constance is black in the recent Muppets movie so why not !)

He never had been in love with anyone before Emily. Whom he met at age 55. Ever. She had been his first love and kiss just like he was to her. His autism/lack of need for socializing and love for being left alone mixed in with his dedication to his work and focus on his hobbies and passions with a touch of him not being attractive at all (not ugly per say, but... yeah, not attractive) not helped by his disformities, golden tooth and how he balded like all men in his family from his mid 30's didn't make him know anyone before. Not the time to meet, nor anyone into him making the first step anyway. He would be lying if he said back then he didn't feel regret as he got old he would never have a family or know that feeling, but had ended up accepted it and embracing his bachelor status, even rejecting offers from important families who saw profit if their daughters could be with that rich old man with a nice inheritance at key. He did intend to reject Miss Emily Gracey and was not interested at all and it was mutual, they agreed not to play along with her family who insisted for them to get to know each other so it should have stopped there. And yet, force of speaking and learning about each other during these forced meetings... you know how my headcanons go <3

Yes I also imply there he also was a 57 years old virgin and Emily wasn't the only one to pop her cherry that night when they couldn't hold themselves anymore after 2 years of courting and got jiggy the very night he proposed. It was very awkward for both of them, but they are so in love it remains a very pleasant memory for both. Ironically now he is dead he is less tired and feels no more back pain, now after 156 years of marriage he is VERY experimented and knows jist what shr loves so he rocks her world to the other brides' dismay. Or anyone passing by when it happens, really

As you know I have been drawing him and his wife with silvery wedding bands for years as an excuse/justificatiin about why we don't see them on their animatronics like it would if it were golden, him being grey and she being in the dark. Now I even made an origin : they were his parents'. They were not rich but like their son would later had a love marriage and had made sure to have the luxury to have silver rings, not gold but still precious. When they died, he took them with the intent to maybe use them one day if he were to find his half (not that he looked very much) and keep them as family heirlooms in the meantime for how much they symbolized their love and how much he shipped it. So when decades later he proposed to Emily and the wedding was being organized, he sweetly suggested her to use those with the story going behind them, for how much they meant to him and how it could make their marriage as strong as theirs was. Emily found it so romantic and sweet she accepted, and to this day their skeletons in their graves have them and themselves wear ghostly versions of them all the time

Ghosts don't need to eat or sleep obviously, they just do out of gluttony and sloth, comfort and rest, and recretional purpose. He is one of those who eat and drink the least (he already skipped meals when alive so imagine now), but he is a slut for gumbo, beignets and poboys. Gosh does he love Louisiana food. For it he is that clip with Homer in New Orleans. However he loves to sleep. He can cuddle with his wife that way, but also he just always loved to sleep. It helped as a mortal with his back pain, and even now he doesn't feel pain anymore it comforts him to do so

He had broken his tooth when falling from the ladder when clearing up shelves in his shop once. He wasn't that mad, he saw it as the opportunity to show off his well-earned wealth by making the new one out of gold

Indeed Hattie loves to look good, as a mortal he had multiple hats, attires and shoes for any occasion. An extravagance he had loved to afford ever since he got the money for it. The fact he died pantless in his most humble attire and cloak is a source of frustration if pointed out. Whenever he can leave his ghost gig for a moment he swaps for MUCH better ones

He still fixes hats and even makes new ones for any ghost who asks. For free now since ghost money isn't earned from work (I still have to figure out how), but his ego is flattered they still come to him even in death for that. He is now as scary as talented, Hell yeah. He also is a good fashion adviser for men and women alike when they want to wear something over their usual ghostly versions of the attires they died in

He and Emily did suffer for years to be childless, but he is in a way essentially the Little Blue Bride and the Corpse Bride's (who I remind are sisters and minors on my take) father figure, scolding them when needed and comforting them or giving the best advice he can

He calls Constance a hag or an old hag no matter how she is even younger than he is. It is to enrage her but also how he perceives her since she is his beloathed aunt in law who now lives in HIS attic since 2006. Ironically he calls nothing the Spinster Bride like that, as much as she freaks him out with his extravagant and extroverted she is he does respect and like her. Unlike Constance lol

He can't stand the Hitchhiking Ghosts. When he was banished for 46 years away from the Mansion but not the Graveyard for having accidentally killed Yale Gracey aka the last living Gracey he had to endure them as annoying grave neighbors who kept trying too much to socialize with him or troll him as a mean to "bond". Didn't work at all. Now he nearly hates them as much as his in laws

Being a Gracey by extension, being married to one, he is invited to the annual Gracey-only ballroom, he was even when he was still banished. Sure he came not to embarrass his wife nor cause a scandal, and during his banishment to have an excuse to be in for a night, but he sure is bored and hates being in the same room as Master Gracey (father in law), the Ghost Host (uncle in law) and Constance and be polite to them. It goes as far as them starting to passive aggressively insult and mock each other everytime

He has never been the same again after he watched The Lion King. He isn't a fan of a lot of modern things, but this one, and SCAR... he could make you 1 312932 pages essay to explain how he is a perfect Shakespearean villain in a perfect complex snd deep movie. It kind of bores everyone friends and wife included but at least he is happy, the latter thinks

He and Emily are the annoying TOO lovey dovey and sometimes TOO openly horny couple you would love in fiction but hate in real life, often dancing or being mushy or being super romantic both in gestures and in words. He adorzs her and still can't believe he was sure for years love wasn't for him, she enabled the romantic in him and he SPOILS her whenever he can. They have a new honeymoon in a luxury haunted place for every 5th anniversary and it will never stop. He'd die-die for her and it's mutual

He has managed to tame bats when he was bored during his banishment. He got attached and since then keeps having pet bats. He always call them Batty because he sucks at names. Batty 1, Batty 2, Batty 3... (yes it is based on that cute plush of him, canon)

He is scared of tornados. There were a lot in Khansas. Fortunately none in Louisiana so far, and he is dead already anyway, but he is quite paranoid about the fact it could come one day. One day. ONE DAY...

He also is very scared of the Phantom. I had already mentionned that during his banishment he once tried to find another haunted house and found Phantom Manor which would result in a "GET OUT" type of scenario. As soon as he realized he was very dangerous even to other ghosts as well as a psycho and a tyrant to all the other ghosts who intended to do the same to hil, the Phantom he until then saw as an elegant chap with a cool hat now gives him the same goosebumps the Wolf gives Puss in Boots whenever he thinks he is near. The fact he befriended Mélanie and became friend with her but couldn't help her out still haunts him with guilt

He is of a good nature and kind (as I said he is a great friend, helps with hats and fashion for free, is an amazing husband and was a good boss who hated racism), he is still very bombastic, dramatic, eloquent about anything he is passionate about at the moment (both negatively and positively), a sarcastic grump, the epitome of the meme with the guy who closes the widow to blog in the dark, a deadpan snarker as well as a show off who doesn't really know modesty and loves to habe his ego stroked whether be it by compliments or by being aknowledged as a scary haunt. Nouveau riche syndrome probably

When post-fanon time he and Emily finally gets to find out she had been pregnant the whole time as a ghost (she had died pregnant), and a spell allowed it to come to terms and their daughter Belle to be born, he has been a great father so hard. Sometimes strict, but usually very playful, proud, happy, conniving, silly... she makes him cry with joy often. He is so happy to finally get to experience parenthood with the love of his afterlifr after having craved for it for centuries thinking it would never happen. The light og his death, a miracle who makes the attic even more bearable

[salmonella-destroyer-of-worlds]

Actual roman epitaph for a dog

[0ffbeatqueer]

This is my new favourite headline I've seen all year lmaooo

[feefal]

Baked with love, doomed for compost :’(

[kosmogrl]

teenage me and current me are both depressed directionless girls, the only difference is that current me started appreciating the beauty of the world and realized how good it is to be alive despite it all

[indelibleevidence]

People with low spoons, someone just recommended this cookbook to me, so I thought I'd pass it on.

I always look at cookbooks for people who have no energy/time to do elaborate meal preparations, and roll my eyes. Like, you want me to stay on my feet for long enough to prepare 15 different ingredients from scratch, and use 5 different pots and pans, when I have chronic fatigue and no dishwasher?

These people seem to get it, though. It's very simple in places. It's basically the cookbook for people who think, 'I'm really bored of those same five low-spoons meals I eat, but I can't think of anything else to cook that won't exhaust me'.

And it's free!

[luminixx]

“Your mom” gone wrong. Not the right person.

this is lowkey so unserious don't kill me. it's a reference to all that stuff about his mother that I am seeing.

[excavatinglizard]

Shoutout to my dad for being the funniest person I know

[artkaninchenbau]

Crocodile finds a strange stray cat an 11-year old Nico Robin (AU where they met 13 years earlier. Robin's been on the run from the World Government for 3 years. Crocodile's 27 and has not set up base in Alabasta yet)

It seems like I have become possessed. By some sort of demon.

Bonus:

[girlweepinginstairwell]

does anyone else feel weird & not good or is it just me

[disc80s]

[fairuzfan]

The ease in which Palestinian men are dehumanized. People saw those lineups of halfnaked men and there was relatively no international uproar. Is sexual violence against our men permissible for some reason as long as you write them off as "terrorists"? Humiliation is part of the colonizers' playbook after all. But this is a complex issue of two politically equal entities so don't worry about it.

That last line was sarcasm.

[bardofavon]

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

[marlowe-art]

boop!! :3

[forbiddnsky]

*violently sobbing* I KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER I KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER

[lazylittledragon]

made a sticker for anyone to slap onto their work if they need to