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theromanticscrooge · 3 months

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Professor Venomous, the Hot Mess in a Lab Coat

Note: If you haven't seen the entirety of O.K. K.O., please save this until after you've seen all the episodes. Even if the PV twists are obvious, he's a HUGE part of the ending and an important part of K.O.'s character arc.

POINT's origin in show starts when Silver Spark, El Bow, and Rippy Roo officially join the main team as junior members. Laserblast and Silver Spark immediately take a liking to each other and Laserblast comes up with convenient excuses for alone time with Silver. From what little there is of them on-screen, Silver is absolutely infatuated with Laser, partly because of his flashy attitude, his years of experience, the air of mystery around him, and definitely the confidence. These two were in the early, honeymoon phase of their relationship. El Bow's graphic daydream involving the weird sucker French kiss sequence tells the whole story: If these two weren't working, they were doing other things. Very often and very enthusiastically.

Besides tonsil hockey with Silver, Laserblast has a series of questionable projects he's been working on in a secret sandwich shop lair. Dr. Greyman, the brains behind POINT, discovered two of Laser's mysterious orbs and the consensus was "these were made by villains." When Laser suggests using them to stop bad guys, Greyman immediately shoots him down, citing that they're too dangerous for anyone to use. Greyman accidentally sets off one of the orbs and loses all of his powers. The new mission is find and apprehend the perpetrator. Laser prioritizes covering up his lair and experiments; he's more concerned about his image and standing than the well-being of his teammate.

When he goes with Silver and El Bow to scope out the sandwich shop, he insists on going first and alone. He puts on a show about how brave he is and promises Silver he'll be back. Then Laser enters the sandwich shop/lair and "disappears" into a blackhole. Silver is heartbroken and devastated. She blames El Bow for keeping her from potentially making it in time for that small possible window of opportunity to save Laser. This causes a rift in their friendship for years after. POINT unceremoniously drops El Bow and plants him as solely responsible for Laser's "death." After that, El Bow slowly finds new meaning and actualization as Mr. Gar; it's so painful for him to think about his past, he prefers to consider El Bow as dead as Laserblast is. Even after Carol has made peace with losing Laser, Mr. Gar is wracked with guilt and grief. He still blames himself and puts up a wall between himself and Carol despite her attempts to reach out or reconnect for a long time. In a nutshell, Carol becomes more emotionally mature, patient, and empathetic with time and introspection. She understands the importance of open, honest communication and that's what repairs, even strengthens, her relationship with Mr. Gar once he actually talks to her.

Laser made it out of the sandwich shop in time to avoid the blackhole and hides in a nearby storm drain. The evidence that he's responsible for the spheres is gone, but he hears Silver say "he wasn't powerful enough to get out." That comment is enough to seriously wound Laser's ego. He retreats, ashamed and feeling small and vulnerable. He's lost his powers. In his mind, he's nothing without his powers. He's too insecure to face Silver Spark or anybody else. The idea of her being more powerful; that she'd potentially push him out of the way or underestimate his abilities is something he can't bear. So, he starts desperately experimenting on himself and trying to regain his powers. He's connected so much of his self worth to how powerful he was that he doesn't know who he is without special powers. Until he can "regain his former glory," he refuses to return to POINT or his former life. And he doesn't trust Silver or anyone else enough to be vulnerable or weak in any way around them.

In a way, Laser's reaction to Silver can be roughly approximated to how toxic masculinity can affect how a man views himself. Men are supposed to be strong providers. They can't show any weakness. They're the the master; the cornerstone of the financial health and overall lifeblood of the household. When a man ties his all of his value to a specific personal trait, like how much money he makes or how strong he is, it's a threat when his partner makes more money than him or she's more proficient than him at "his thing." This single trait is such an important piece of his personhood that it pretty much is him. It's difficult to extricate that piece and figure out a healthier approach to who he is outside of that one trait. And he's not going to talk to his partner when she seems more like a rival than a friend.

For all intents and purposes, Laserblast- at least the idea of who Laserblast might have been-died. He becomes Professor Venomous; a respected, renowned villain that's a threat because of his scientific prowess and powerful because of what status and money he gains as a result. He's more satisfied and satiated as a villain than he ever was as a hero. The ideas that POINT balked at are celebrated and encouraged by his fellow villains. It's liberating. While Laserblast was a mask, Professor Venomous is the closest he's been to full self-actualization. It's not full self-actualization, but he's happier as a villain than he ever was as a hero.

Enter Fink. She's arguably the most important character and interpersonal relationship Venomous has. There's ample hints that Venomous rescued her from a rough life surviving by herself out in the streets. They call each other "Boss" and "minion" respectively, but it's just a title. Fink is his adopted daughter. When Fink talks about him, it's with strong respect, admiration, and affection. He's a patient, gentle parent at his best. He brings Fink to every event he's allowed to. He makes sure that Fink has what appropriate weapons or toys she needs at an outing. Out of everyone Venomous interacts with, Fink has seen and intimately knows the kinder, softer side of him. It's why she stands by him despite everything.

Despite their strong relationship though, Venomous still avoids bigger confrontations. He ran away from Carol and avoids the reality of K.O. as his son when he's Professor Venomous. So when Fink starts complaining, he throws expensive toys, video games, and gadgets at her to appease her. Usually, Venomous offsets these materialistic solutions with talking to her at her level or active parenting. Though, at the height of the later Shadowy Figure debacle, Venomous has completely given up when he uses gifts as the only means of interacting with Fink period.

This is speculation, but it's interesting that Venomous never actively talks about himself as "Dad" until it's a direct confrontation between Shadowy Venomous and K.O. Perhaps, Venomous uses a set of mental gymnastics to place some degree of separation between his father-daughter relationship with Fink and his nonexistent relationship with K.O. Fink is his minion. She's an important piece of his daily operations as a villain. As long as K.O. doesn't know or realize his true identity, Venomous didn't have to think about the fact that he abandoned his son. There's a lot of complicated baggage attached to a potential relationship with K.O. If Venomous wanted to successfully navigate how they could foster a father-son relationship or at least a friendly dynamic, it means he'd have to be more honest and introspective with himself than he's willing to.

Throughout the show, viewers are introduced to K.O.'s dark alter-ego T.K.O. T.K.O. is initially treated as a separate entity. He's angry, he's frustrated, he's angsty. He wants to watch the world burn as a means of catharsis and for his own entertainment. The truth is that T.K.O. is the manifestation of K.O.'s unresolved feelings about his absentee dad, always following the rules without intensely questioning why things work a certain way, questioning authority figures in general. It boils down to: T.K.O. is a personification of the existential angst that comes attached with K.O. growing up and becoming better acquainted with the workings of the world around him.

Shadowy Figure is introduced as Professor Venomous' equivalent to T.K.O. Venomous thought he was content with "power" accumulated through money and villainous feats. That was enough for a long time, but then Venomous reached the pinnacle of villainry. He had inventions like a giant death ray; an easy button for threatening the squeamish Congresswoman for obscene amounts of ill-gotten wealth. When Venomous started seeing there was more to Lord Boxman and his Snidely Whiplash-esque rivalry with Lakewood Plaza, he realized he'd been in the throes of ennui. Throwing his resources and talents behind Boxman re-ignited his love of villainry. Boxman knew how to take risks and have fun. Unlike other villains, evil wasn't a careful, calculated set of moves or a set of ideas that needed to be run through bureaucratic red tape. Boxman's attacks leveled up in a deeply gratifying way for both of them.

Yes, Venomous had a partner and lifestyle that were a fantastic fit for him. But he still hadn't confronted the trauma of losing his powers years ago. Consciously, he thought he had moved on, but really, he'd bottled up these feelings and resentment for so long they took on a life of their own. That's where the more active split between Venomous and Shadowy starts. Venomous' "former glory" isn't enough anymore. Now, it's a ravenous ghost that demands bigger, better, more terrifying; power that can match, if not more deeply fulfill, how long these feelings and dissatisfaction have sat untouched. When Shadowy looks at K.O., he sees a direct outlet for achieving his deepest desires.

"Power" is represented as a DBZ-esque energy source that can destroy planets or even the universe at large. It's simultaneously an in-show love letter to shounen battle nonsense while acting as an abstract stand-in for a parent living vicariously through their child. Shadowy Figure is the beginning phases of an overzealous parent pressuring their kid to become the sports star, the Harvard Law doctor, or any number of other concepts. The parent wasn't able to achieve this goal for whatever reason, but then they look at their child as a malleable lump of clay. The child is an extension of themselves; the last chance to achieve this dream the parent holds as their penultimate achievement. This dream is more important to the parent than everything; to the degree it supersedes the fact their child is an autonomous, independent being with their own wants, dreams, and needs for their life. The child has become a tool.

While there is still a degree of separation between Venomous and Shadowy, it's brief hope that he can catch himself and pump the brakes on how he's overstepping with K.O. When he outright calls himself Shadowy Venomous, he's completely surrendered to his need for power. Shadowy Venomous is the realization of who and what he thought he wanted to be. Its the means to a horribly self-destructive bender. He can do whatever he wants. Nothing is a challenge or threat to his self-esteem now because no one is more powerful. And if they are, he has a means to make himself greater.

K.O. has a solid support system between Carol and his adoptive family Mr. Gar, Enid, and Rad. Though, even with a solid support system, K.O. wanted some kind of relationship with his bio-dad Venomous. Parent-child relationships can be really complicated and messy. Even if a child has a fantastic mom and stepdad, the right combination of feeling unheard, misplaced, or having certain emotional needs unaddressed can make the originally absent parent appealing. Even if this other parent hasn't contributed as much, there's a want for their attention and validation. They're here now. They're trying now. They have something other loved ones can't offer. More importantly, it's a means to fill an existential hole in their life.

When K.O. takes a moment to acknowledge T.K.O. as part of himself that he's been grossly neglecting, he starts learning the importance of self love and that acknowledging and accepting his trauma is part of growing as a person. He's been able to empathize and show compassion for everybody else around him, but he refused to give himself the same kindness and patience. Shadowy Venomous exploited this. T.K.O. hoped that Shadowy would listen to and commiserate with him in a way nobody else was because Shadowy seemingly had a similar chip in his shoulder. They're mirrors of each other, right? That's what the wanton destruction and chaos were all about. When K.O. finally gives himself the consideration he needed, he realized that looking to Shadowy was never about him. It was only about being the convenient part that Shadowy needed. Shadowy was never interested in really reaching out and developing a meaningful connection with him.

Because of his self-reflection, K.O.'s relationships with his chosen family will be fuller and richer because he's including his inner voice as part of those intimate, heavy, vulnerable conversations with loved ones.

Despite Professor Venomous royally fucking up, the ending montage in the last episode shows he's not completely irredeemable. K.O. deliberately asks about him, too. At the very least, K.O. still cares about the Professor.

The President of the Universe gives Venomous a personal planet to destroy. In a way, that's Venomous finally confronting how much losing his powers years ago affected him. He has a healthier means to process his feelings around that sensitive subject and it's highly effective. He repairs his relationship with Fink; he's a more active parent than he was previously and encourages her interests more. There's a scene where he tells Fink he doesn't like video games and suggests she practices her piano scales while he's gone instead of further gameplay. Years later, he's enthusiastically cheering her on from the audience after she, presumably, became a professional gamer and won a gaming tournament.

Venomous also apologizes to Lord Boxman after their messy break-up during his spiraling as Shadowy Venomous. One sequence features a wedding ring. The bulk of these scenes are very fill-in-the-blank or connect the dots, but they're powerful. Seeing Professor Venomous with a wedding ring means that he learned how to have a vulnerable conversation with Boxman and that they trust each other enough to make that serious of a commitment. Previous scenes are very much coded as them having a gay romance and building a blended family as "business partners," but this cements it and cinches those last few parts of Professor Venomous' character arc. Its honestly beautiful how Venomous comes around to his equivalent of the healthy, satisfying life and family that Carol has between Mr. Gar and K.O.

A redemption arc isn't realistic for every person that fits a Professor Venomous mold, but its meaningful to see a character like this work on himself. As an older fan, its appreciated how much attention and care are given to found family for all of these characters in a variety of situations and circumstances.

#ok ko #ok ko let's be heroes #character analysis #ok ko professor venomous #professor venomous #professor venomous character analysis #shadowy figure #shadowy venomous #tko #laserblast #voxman mention #character essay #i'm up at 3 in the morning writing about cartoon characters #hdthtfhztrjsryj *keyboard smash*#yeah....the voxman shipping corner is next #RIP my sleep schedule lol

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fruitycircus · 2 years

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ok quick rundown of my take of that laserblast & venomous are brothers au i drew earlier. ill probably revise this later with images & junk but im just gonna go through it now and update later.

it also might be nice to mention that this was based on my own speculation of the connection between lb & pv back in 2019, all pre-big reveal & lets get shadowy

soo laserblast and later venomous were born between two heroes in neo riot city (im not sure if id get into the parents but id say one was human and the other some type of lizard/snake mutant) laser got his folk's powers and good looks, and venomous didn't, tho he did recieve some mutant traits including always being ourple.

fast forward a couple years to when POINT has been a solid team for a while now with laserblast himself, foxtail, and dr. greyman, and also silverspark, el bow, and rippy roo a bit later. venomous had been offered to enroll in POINT prep so he could join the team by his big brother, but as of right now venomous holds it off and says he's busy with his own personal studies, all of which are based on glorbs (like what theyre made of, if they can be modified wink wink nudge nudge, etc) but he is able to take on the offer. he currently studies in a separate building disguised as a common shop winkity wink wink. tho he admits its a tad bit suspicious, ven claims that he means no harm and just uses the building as a controlled work zone for his projects. only he and laser know about this location, and ven says he doesnt trust POINT with this information but plans to tell them when he can confirm his tests are stable and safe to use. he also recently aquired a test rat from a science program that "re-inhabits" lost critters for the sake of science. although ven just didnt have the heart to use her for his projects, thus she treats her more like a pet / friend / child and names her fink

now would also be a good time to mention laser & ven's own issues; laser's is unchanged from canon (abt him feeling that his powers are mid compared to his team and how he felt like he couldnt be himself even with his girlfriend carol and what he was capable for doing compared to her.) ven, although content with his complete lack of powers, struggles with being seen. his brother is the laserblast for crying out loud, he often feels overshadowed and/or just known as laserblast's sibling. he wants to make a name for himself with his own passion. yeah, being offered to possibly join POINT is an amazing opportunity, but ven isnt sure if huge superhero teams are his calling. all he knows that science is something he likes but is unsure if his current experiments are something he'll do forever. he wants a life that he doesnt have and an opportunity that doesnt exist...yet!

anyways, ven and fink goes out into the city to get more supplies for his experiments, but while he was gone greyman enters the "donut shop" and then its all downhill from here: greyman alerts the team of a possibly villain living there (again, laser was the only one who knew that ven was doing this), foxtails sends laser, silverspark, and el bow to investigate, laser offers to "check the perimeter" and tries to cover up his brother's work, which all leads up to the sandwich incident where laserblast is presummed to be shrunk or teleported or whatever. POINT recieves the news and his heartbroken about the loss of their beloved hero... but we all know he survived by escaping into a sewer pipe and left the scene.

the next morning, laser tries to go back to the surface and explain everything to the team but is confronted by ven. he doesnt know how to feel knowing his life work was destroyed, why laser almost abandoned his team / girlfriend in the moment, or just really what laserblast was thinking. laser and ven squabble for a moment until laser straight up tells ven to confirm that he is dead and isnt coming back, and then leave. ven assumes hes bluffing and waits...and waits...and...uh oh.

a few weeks pass and POINT is nearly in shambles. el bow was fired since he was blamed for laser's disappearance, rippy roo starts looking into atomic physics, greyman starts building chip damage, and carol is confirmed to be pregnant with laser's baby. during all of this, ven tries to contact POINT about the truth about the sandwich incident, but no one is able to give him the time of day to listen. this breaks him to bits, he knew POINT didnt know him that well, but they were just straight up ignoring him now. he felt so powerless knowing that his brother was alive and probably wouldnt bother coming up after what he (and carol) said. what was ven supposed to do without his big brother in the w-

wait a minute!

ven has an epiphany: with his brother no longer a thing, he's no longer in laser's shadow and could do whatever he wanted to now!! sure its grim, but its true. POINT never gave a second thought about him so its not like they'd reach out now! and soon enough venomous started studying bioengineering and making various projects and weapons and even begins working with glorbs again, although rather than just studying them he dives deeper into their effects and how they can be used a power supplies, both as actual energy and powerups for heroes. he also invents what would be the turbo collar, to which he gives to his daughter / now (maybe-self-proclaimed?) minion fink!! however, a problem did arise: no hero was willing to buy his projects feeling as if they were made with ill intent. some villains did reach out to purchase and although ven was skeptical they sure did pay a pretty peny for it, not to mention he did realize that he had some sharing ideals with them, and before everyone knew in ven broke into the villain market and became who we know today as professor venomous. sometimes he missies his brother, but he now considers it a lost cause and not much we can do about it today. from here on out everything about him lines up to the show's events (we're captured, villains night out/in, etc)

on a more somber note, laser stayed under the city weeping about being far weaker than he was before. he begins physically deteriorating into something he could even reconinze. but even at his lowest point, he refused to give up. he needed his powers back and then sum. he wants his old life back to the way everything was. he remebered some of his bro's studies about glorbs, but only the results of each experiment. he had to learn how to reverse engineer it all by himself, and thats what he set himself to do. but how was he supposed to get glorbs? steal them? well, yeah, i guess. and thus changed lase- no, shadowy figure's trajectory and goal. he travels though the city system to steal glorbs from various hideouts, stores, etc. and once the city ran dry, he jumped to the next town over and rinse and repeat until he went to lakewood plaza turbo, home of the elusive glorb tree which would of gave shadowy an almost lifetime supply of glorbs for him. when we wasn't stalking to plaza and being a creep, he was working with the glorbs he stole to make them regain his original powers and more permanently.

the thing is, he actually did have a power that survived. y'know that purple depower bubble TKO can make?? yeah, shadowy is completely immune to that. you cant mess with something that isnt there. it might seem usless considering not many heroes possess that type of power, but it sure can come in handy when your son, specifically his evil alter ego, tries to attack.

aaaand thats it!! ill probably have to look back at this later but for know here it is in all of its angst-fueled glory. moral of the story? you can both be the evil twin. ty and goodnight!!!!

#ok ko let's be heroes #professor venomous #shadowy figure #laserblast

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