#nerdy prudes must die is on youtube!!! go watch it!!!!

[cutesilyo]

the thing i really like about just for once in nerdy prudes must die is that it's best iteration of the musical within a musical trope that has become characteristic of the hatchetfield musicals

like both show-stopping number and deck the halls (of northville high) are catchy songs from in-universe musicals that were very much written to have plots that suck

and show-stopping number was so well-beloved because it is, frankly, a hilarious scene that robert manion put 100% into

but i argue that only just for once is thematically relevant to its musical and fully emblematic of the wants and desires of the character singing it

because what is just for once, as a scene? it's ruth singing a song because she thinks she's got a chance of doing it better. it's ruth singing a song about a character who looks back on the mundane miseries of her lonely life and — at the last second — remembering who she used to be before the pain set in. it's ruth singing her version of cooler than i think i am and reflecting on how she is perceived and wondering what it takes to break away from it. it's ruth singing right after she says, "in my dreams, i'm the star of the show."

of all the losers that max jagerman victimizes, only ruth says who she'd like to become beyond that. where pete can't even admit to liking steph at gunpoint and richie doesn't ever get the chance to verbalize what he wants, ruth gets on the stage in the few minutes of break time and just for once, the spotlight is on her.

and the really crazy thing about just for once is — it has the "i'm not a loser" motif. possibly the most iconic and important motif of the whole musical, it's the motif that starts the opening number. and here it is, in the silly musical within a musical by the silly character who has — until this song — always served as comic relief.

in the climax of the song, just for once is no longer the song of a character from the barbecue monologues. it's ruth's. in those few seconds, it's her lamentation of the life that max jagerman forced on her.

but that's the thing about the "i'm not a loser" motif. the way it functions in the musical is as a harbinger for max's violence. the police at the beginning ask, "what the hell happened here?" and its the motif that answers. pete is the first character that sings the line and is immediately beaten up by max in the next scene. then richie sings it and max kills him in the same song. when ruth has the motif running as the crescendo to just for once, it sounds absolutely incredible... and it should come as no surprise when max appears shortly after.

(as a quick note: you can also hear the motif after max makes the car crash, then max appears two scenes later. you then hear the motif in the cooler than i think i am reprise and max also appears right after the song. it's like max is instantly summoned by any instance of the losers trying to shake off the role he placed on them — of trying to defy him.)

tl;dr: the inclusion of the "i'm not a loser" motif in just for once makes it the big lipped alligator moment that wasn't. like yeah, it accomplishes its goal in being the funny musical within a musical trope! the character acting makes it a funny song, and its a funny character performing it! but it also furthers our understanding of ruth AND of what the "i'm not a loser" really is: it's the characters trying to develop past being nerdy prudes and max doing everything in his power to prevent that.

and it does all that while being a banging musical tribute to stephen sondheim and, especially, his song the ladies who lunch. which in itself is a massive flex on jeff blim's part. what a brilliant song in a brilliant musical.

[yourlocalabomination]

Bro I think they messed up my vocaloid order.

[midnightnautilus]

Man I love the Hatchetfield Saga - It’s such a weird wonderful world Starkid has crafted through so many bits of musicals and shorter content, with tons of interesting and memorable characters, a deft balance of horror comedy and drama, and great musical numbers

It’s great to branch out from my other interests like Who Killed Markiplier

That has a weird wonderful world Mark and his team have crafted through small and big projects, with tons of interesting and memorable characters, a deft balance of horror comedy and drama, and…great musical numbers…

WAIT NO— /lh

[lizzstarkiller]

People who followed me for my fic 🤝 people who followed me for haladriel

Being absolutely dumbfounded upon my starkid posts.

[ms-bluejay]

Dirty Girl from Nerdy Prudes Must Die is so GuitarSpear coded

Adam and Lute are just very Max and Grace coded in general lollllll

[patheticfemme]

happy birthday stoners 🤭💜

cishet men & terfs dni 🔪 || feedee/feeder blogs dni 🔪

MINORS DNI

[sylvie-cannot-write]

sorry moots ur feed is going to be very starkid themed for the next couple weeks

hope you enjoy musicals 🫶🫶

[gotta-get-back-to-hatchetfield]

Help! I loved Nerdy Prudes Must Die and am curious about Nightmare Time but don't really have time to commit to watching it all... (a handy guide)

For those of you who don't know Nightmare Time was a series of Hatchetfield one shots that starkid wrote and recorded during lockdown, all of which are of course available for free on YouTube. They go a lot deeper into the lore than the 3 Hatchetfield musicals, including explaining and explore the characters we know and love in more detail, sometimes including shocking revelations.

They also introduce new characters to the Hatchetfield universe, including Stephanie Lauter, Grace Chasity and Pete Spankoffski, who we first met in a Nightmare Time episode.

As they were filmed in lockdown the recording quality is somewhat variable, but Season 2 has a much higher production value than Season 1, and in Season 1 Episode 1 in particular they were very clearly trying to find their feet with it. That being said the actual scripts and content of the episodes is solid throughout.

I've decided to put together this handy guide of which Nightmare Time episodes people might want to check out if they want to learn more about certain things we saw in NPMD.

1) Nibbly - Honey Queen (season 2 episode 1)

If you're curious to learn more about the Lords in Black each of them (bar Wiggly) have an episode of Nightmare Time devoted to them.

For Nibbly, Wiggly's hungriest and pinkest brother that episode is 'Honey Queen' in Season 2 Episode 1.

It explores a very entertaining rivalry between Linda Monroe (from Black Friday) and Zoey (the annoying barista from Beanie's in TGWDLM) that naturally turns very very dark. We also get to meet Linda's husband Gerald who she spends most of Black Friday on the phone to.

As a heads up Nibbly doesn't appear until, shall we say, the end of the episode (with Hatchetfield there's always a twist) and he's not in the super sexy form from NPMD but it's a very strong episode and does give a bit of background to Nibbly's deal.

2) Tinky - Time Bastard (season 1 episode 2 part 2)

If you're curious to learn more about this yellow motherfucker played by Curt then you're in luck because he's in my personal favourite episode and one with a lot of interesting lore surrounding it.

If you're curious about what he means when in NPMD he says 'I could add another Spankoffski to my set', Time Bastard is focused around Pete's brother Ted (from TGWDLM) and the dodgy dealings of CCRP.

It's an extremely clever episode, with lots of really fun twists. It's unfortunately season 1 so has slightly lower production quality, but in terms of raw scripting is just outstanding and has some really interesting reveals about people in the Hatchetfield universe who may not be who we think they are...

Also worth noting that this is in the same episode (Youtube video) as a different Nightmare Time episode 'Forever and Always'. Most episodes work like this where you have two different stories per episode, they absolutely can be watched independently but usually have some sort of thematic link (in this case it's the things we do for love and how they will inevitably be thwarted by CCRP being sketch).

3) Blinky - Watcher World (season 1 episode 1 part 2)

And if you're curious about the one who's always watching you, he's actually the first Lord in Black we meet through Nightmare Time, in the very first episode when Bill and Alice Woodward (TGWDLM) go on an ill fated trip to a spooky theme park.

Again this is from the first episode so production quality is low but it's a really solid episode and a very interesting look into these characters.

While this is our first meeting of a lord in black in Nightmare Time, I don't believe he's actually referred to as such, and the concept of the Lords in Blacks being introduced as Wiggly's brothers comes in at point 5 on this list.

4) Pokey - Yellow Jacket (season 2 episode 4)

You've already met Pokey through TGWDLM (yep that was his blue shit that destroyed the world!), but you won't truly realise how fucking scary he is until you meet his incarnation 'Otho' in Yellow Jacket.

A solid episode exploring Lex, Hannah and Ethan in a lot more detail, and in a world and lives where (at least at the start of the episode) things seem to be a lot more stable for them than in Black Friday.

And yeh as I've already mentioned Pokey is fucking s c a r y in it. Also you remember James Tolbert's character, Charles that gets a little cameo in Hatchetown? Well he's the main human antagonist of this episode!

We also learn a lot of lore about 'the gift', the thing that makes Hannah able to do magic.

5) The concept of the Lords in Black generally - The Witch in the Web (season 2 episode 3 part 2)

If you're curious about why everyone's been posting pictures of those evil teddy bears and now even more confused that you've met them all as fucked up high school students, the Witch in the Web is the episode where we're first introduced to the 'they don't care bears' as a set.

This is a really cool episode, again about Lex and Hannah, but it also exploring Uncle Wiley (from Black Friday) in a lot more detail.

We also first meet two characters called Duke and Miss Holloway who together form the ship Holloduke that if you were following any of Starkid tumblr during lockdown you will definitely have heard of. They're really cool!

Here we also meet Webby, Hannah's imaginary friend in Black Friday, who turns out to be the lord in black's sister: a queen in white. And she's dope.

6) Pete Spankoffski, Stephanie Lauter and Grace Chasity - Abstinence Camp (season 2 episode 2 part 2)

We first meet the now beloved characters of Pete and Steph and the slightly less beloved character of Grace in an evangelical abstinence only camp. The episode centers entirely around these characters and plays excellently with tropes of the horror genre.

It also has the best song in all of Nightmare Time and it's up to you to decide if I'm talking about 'oh my god it's the axe-man' or 'virginity rocks' (it's both, the answer is both).

That's pretty much it in terms of Nightmare Time episodes that cover things from NPMD, but in case you're curious here's a quick run down of what the rest are about:

The Hatchetfield Ape Man - season 1 episode 1 part 1. Hidgens makes Ted pretend to be a Tarzan style half monkey, half man thing to con Angela Giarratanna out of her inheretence.

Watcher World - season 1 episode 1 part 2. See bullet 3 above. Alice and Bill Woodward go to a theme park and shit hits the fan.

Forever and Always - season 2 episode 2 part 1. Paul and Emma get married. Things are not as they seem (there are robots). One of my personal favourites.

Time Bastard - season 2 episode 2 part 2. See bullet 2 above. Ted fucks with time travel and things end very badly for him. Best episode imo.

Jane's a Car - season 2 episode 3 part 1. Turns out the soul of Tom Houston's ex-wife Jane, who died in a car crash, transferred into the car. This somewhat complicates his budding relationship with Becky Barnes.

The Witch in the Web - season 2 episode 3 part 2. See bullet 5 above. Hannah Foster's having nightmares and somehow a witch and Uncle Wiley are involved. Luckily a good witch (Miss Holloway) is there to try and help.

Honey Queen - season 2 episode 1. See bullet 1 above. Linda Monroe and Zoey Chambers compete to win the Hatchetfield honey queen beauty pageant and things spiral wildly out of control. My personal favourite episode from season 2.

Perky's Buds - season 2 episode 2 part 1. Emma's finally achieved her dream of owning her own pot farm. Just her, her non-binary farm hand Ziggs and some very evil birds.

Abstinence Camp - season 2 episode 2 part 2. See bullet 6 above. Pete, Steph and Grace go to a retreat in the very creepy woods to learn one way or another about the perils of pre-marital sex.

Daddy - season 2 episode 3 part 1. Remember Sherman Young (Jamie's weird creepy guy from Black Friday)? Turns out there's something very weird going on with his mum. We also learn a lot about Frank Pricely (owner of toyzone from Black Friday) in this episode, who turns out to be a very interesting character.

Killer Track - season 2 episode 3 part 2. Miss Holloway must take extreme action to save a young girl and then the whole world against an evil song that kills anyone who listens to it. We learn a lot more about Holloway as a character and she is soooo cool. Another favourite episode of mine.

Yellow Jacket - season 2 episode 4. See bullet point 4. Hannah seeing her sister struggling to provide for them financially decides to find a way of using her power to earn some spare cash.

Hey Melissa - episode aired only on a livestream, type it into youtube and it'll come up. If you've ever found yourself asking 'what if Mariah's secretary character from the start of TGWDLM was really into dom pup play and Paul Matthews was her little pup bitch and she was also a horrific out of control serial killer?' then a) are you Matt Lang because if not I'm concerned? and b) by god this is the episode for you!. I personally really enjoy it I think it's super funny, but obviously heavy trigger warnings for abuse and sexual content warnings (there's a reason they didn't put this in the real series). Fucking excellent tho.

[pers3phone399]

GUYS WAKE UP NEW BLORBOS JUST DROPPED IN HD

GO WATCH NERDY PRUDES MUST DIE FOR FREE ON YOUTUBE RIGHT NOW

[castielreal]

Go on and watch Nerdy Prudes Must Die on YouTube. Go support independent musical theater. They’re giving you this top quality shit for free!!!! You know you want to.

[gooperspeggs]

i literally loved nerdy prudes must die more than i can ever put into words, thank you so much @the-real-team-starkid 😭😭😭💘💘

GO WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE IF YOU HAVENT’T

[marvelmaniac715]

When I first listened to ‘Just For Once’ about a month ago before I even watched Nerdy Prudes Must Die, I interpreted it as Ruth singing about her potential future past high school. Now I’ve watched the show and I have the glorious context that is Barbecue Monologues, but I’m still thinking, yeah, that seems about right. Think about it, both ‘nerds’ that got murdered died after getting what they wanted (just like in The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals). Richie wanted to be accepted by his peers, and just when he’s accepted by the football team he’s murdered. Ruth wanted to act, and when she gains the confidence she’s murdered, but Ruth also wanted to be in a romantic relationship, which she sings about in her Barbecue Monologue song. As I watched the proshot on YouTube with my friend, I realised that even though Richie got what he wanted, he was still being told that he reeked and that his new friends would go right back to bullying him if Max came back, so what if Ruth’s monologue was a sort of vision of the sort of unhappy suburban life she’d lead after graduating? Both of their happinesses came with a caveat, a note of dread and uncertainty. I don’t know, I could just be crazy but Nerdy Prudes has given me a lot of theories.

[vesperione]

To Clear Things Up:

Is Workin Boys a SK10 Kickstarter reward: yes!

Is there going to be a livestream announced on Friday taking place directly after nerdy prudes must die where workin boys will be shown: yes!

Is that kickstarter sk10 backer exclusive?: NO

If you backed sk10, do you get a free pass to the Hatchetfield Halloween stream?: NO. YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY!

If I backed for sk10, will I be able to get a free pass to watch workin boys whenever I want to?: YES

If I didn’t back sk10, Will there Be a way for me to also get that free pass to watch workin boys whenever I want to?: not until it goes on YouTube! It is still a reward!

[starleska]

I'm so sorry Star but as a Smosh Fan (casual) who is not up to date with her Starkid theater work, let me tell you

I was seeing this art of Grace and being like "oh that's a neat archetype, I wonder who-" and then got SUCKER PUNCHED by the sight of Angela From My Youtube Videos

oh my God is that what she's known for!!!! that is amazing holy shit 🙈💖💖 Angela Giarratana is so astonishingly talented...and now i know where else i can check out her work, thank you so much!! 🥰 hahaha in Starkid so far she's starred as Lex Foster in Black Friday and is fantastic in that, but her real stand-out role is as Grace Chastity in Nerdy Prudes Must Die!!! she EATS that role, i was laughing the whole way through!!! for real, even if you didn't watch The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals or Black Friday you can go right into NPMD and have an absolute blast 🙏 she's also due to play the Stepmother in Starkid's upcoming musical, Cinderella's Castle 👀

[fruity-phrog]

My hyperfixations are aligning like stars.

Listen up, Hatchetfield fans. Keep an eye on Little Miss Perfect, the musical. It's about a girl called Noelle developing feelings for an exchange student called Malaya that her conservative family are putting up, written by Joriah Kwarme. It originates from his award-winning song of the same name, sung by Taylow Louderman. And Mariah is set to play Noelle.

And lend me your ears, fans of The Owl House. You're a toh fan, I know you've listened to Little Miss Perfect and Ordinary. If you didn't know Joriah was making it into a musical, then now you do. And even if you did know and you've listened to the songs, you'll know the voice of Noelle - Mariah Rose Faith Castillas - is an amazing singer. You should absolutely go and watch her in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (it's on youtube). Then watch Black Friday - she's not in that one, but it s the second in the Hatchetfield series, and the third - Nerdy Prudes Must Die - features Mariah as the main.

Trust me on this. Starkid fans, and trust me, TOH fans. I know my stuff. Heed my advice.

[basilpaste]

i dont go to qsmp but i know one of your guys reacted to a video with a nerdy prudes must die song in it so here is my appeal to you. to watch nerdy prudes must die on starkids youtube channel.

the people on my dash who like qsmp seem to be fond of characters who are a little unhinged. watch nerdy prudes must die.