#speak of the devil spoilers

[wishful-soda]

EHFBCHEDABSH SEX IN HORNER'S OFFICE?! ARE YOU KIDDING?! Also... hold the fuck up, aren't there like... cAMERAS AROUND? i'm-

Okay not to spoil what's to be revealed, but our boy has meticulously planned his all out 😏

[gettownsburnmoney]

ruben writing hit songs about being mad and toxic... aguefort students going crazy for them.... kipperlily dosing the whole school with devil's nectar..... students singing about being mad while dosed with devil's nectar...... everyone having random rage outbursts.......

[suzu-kun22]

No no no no NO I could go on about this page literally forever, because Denji has heard people telling him "shut up and do what I say" FOREVER and for a long time he just went along with it because it was easier. But now he's on a date with a girl – something that was his dream for a long ass time and something that he still wants – and she's telling him the same thing. Shut up. Listen. You don't have to think if you just do what I say. Even when it's about something as minor as what animals they're looking at in the aquarium. But Denji says no!!!!! No, he's not going to just blindly do what people tell him anymore!!!!!! He's going to think about things his own way now, and he just walks off to look at his damn penguins because that's what he wants!!!!!!

Denji in chapter one, or chapter 20, or chapter 40, or even chapter 70, would have just kept his head down and quietly listened as Asa kept talking. Maybe he would have complained some more, but he would have let her boss him around if he thought it would make things easier. But not now. Now, Denji is determined to think for himself!!! The character development is palpable and I’m so proud of him!!!

Get this boy some penguins!!

[not-from-mars]

When Ruby’s playing the piano and the Doctor’s staring out over the city do you think he’s wondering if Susan can hear it

[cravendesires]

A REMINDER FOR THE FIC WRITERS NEW TO THIS FANDOM:

the tags Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice is for book canon fan fiction.

the tags Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022) are for the tv series fan fiction.

AO3 is an archive. If you tag your fics with both for publicity and reach, you're just making it harder for those looking for book canon fics and misusing the tags. Do not do that. Use the right tags.

[gods-favorite-autistic]

I think either one of the Ratgrinders or Porter himself (or Jace possibly) are gonna use the devils honey to lie in a prayer to Ankarna telling her they aren’t going to harm Cassandra or her (only remaining and therefore only thing keeping her from destruction/turning back into the Nightmare King permanently) saint and then immediately use the power she gives them to try and kill Kristen

[utterdrip]

astarion being so conscious about what a big weird fuckin group the tadpole’d are like yelling at them hands fluttering about

“we’re conspicuous enough as this merry band of freaks! can you! be normal!”

[hard cut to astarion panting over the possibility of killing some githyanki scouts]

[starryluminary]

Lord have mercy on my soul

[greendreamer]

Hey, the music Ruby hums before her heart song starts. Is it a reference to any Whoiverse music? Maybe a clue?

[dimonds456]

One Hell of a Dream (DLC Analysis)

!!SPOILERS!! Block the tag if you haven't!

So, in the new DLC, there is a secret boss. We don't really know anything about it, just that it has lots- and I mean LOTS- of implications. You find it by doing a randomized puzzle and then falling asleep, taking you to a dream.

We know it's a dream because A) we just fell asleep, and B) the soundtrack backs this up. The track that plays during this fight is called "One Hell of a Dream."

I want to take some time to talk about the significance of this little segment here.

Before that, though, I want to point out a few things.

- Cuphead can only face towards the Devil

- Devs and the Angel swap sides depending on which way he's facing

- The stopmotion skeleton in the background

- The night sky behind that

- The swirly clouds Cuphead is standing on

If you haven't seen this boss yet, here's a no commentary fight.

Now, on to the good stuff.

Also, as a short summary of this essay, have a meme.

K let's get into it.

So, for those of you who have watched The Cuphead Show (no S2/S1B spoilers here!), we all know how Episode 8 started. Normal day at the Cup household, Kettle's making pancakes, we're wondering if there was an upload mistake when suddenly

AH

My friend @joyflameball and I have been going on for a while about the depth of this show, and this is the scene that really tipped us off to begin with. As Alan Seawright of CInema Therapy once said, "nightmares are a cinematic shorthand for trauma."

The same is true here. In this boss, it's heavily implied it's a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare. Just like we see in the show. However, this one takes place after we had already beaten the Devil, and have been thanked and given money for it. So, what's the deal?

Well, even if the danger is gone, that doesn't mean you forget. You remember.

Cuphead still dreams of the Devil, even if he beat good ol' Scratch's behind 7 ways to Sunday. He's scary, and Cups sold his and his brother's souls to him. That doesn't just go away.

Look at the Angel. Notice the horns, nose, eyes, and fur, plus the fact that he turns into the Devil when you look at him. The fact that he and Devs flap their wings in sync. That angel is the Devil. That's Lucifer, just from before he was booted out of Heaven.

To further solidify this, the skeleton in the background is the Devil's skeleton. Notice the long horns and wide eye sockets. The skeleton is overseeing this because that's who he really is, fuzzy exterior aside. He may look different, but he's always been the same.

Now, as a non-believer, not-a-Christian, this tells me two things.

If you look, Cuphead is still getting attacked from behind. The Angel still produces attacks, they just don't hurt you unless you look at him. So, that tells me paranoia. If Cuphead does turn around to look, then the attacks hit him. If he doesn't, then the ghost of those attacks still phase through.

It's like feeling imaginary bugs crawling on you. Nothing's there, but you feel like there is.

Before I go further, here are two lists of trauma symptoms. There's one point per list I want to draw attention to; in the first "Anxiety," and in the second, "Nightmares."

That's both of what we're seeing here.

The second thing I see here is... well. A lot.

Have the screenshot again. I'd like to draw attention to another point: Guilt.

Imagine you have a brother, or picture your sibling. You both go do something you know you shouldn't, and you decide to put the both of you in danger. Your sibling says that maybe it's time to go, but you instead make it worse and nearly get both of you killed.

Now, what would you be feeling? Your sibling didn't want to be there, and you made it worse for the both of you. Or, you knew not to go and you id anyway. Either way, you'd be feeling guilty, right?

Well, something that goes hand in hand with guilt is self-evaluation, and often, self-loathing. You suddenly feel like you don't deserve X, Y, and/or Z.

Now, back to the screenshot.

Why is Lucifer there? It would make sense for Cuphead to be dreaming about Devs, but... Lucifer? And what about the clouds and the starry sky?

Well, the night sky is up, right? Above us. What else is up?

Heaven.

Now, the clouds with the evil green glow make more sense. This is Cuphead dreaming about Heaven. Or, some equivalent.

Now, notice the spikes at the bottom. Those could be the mountainous Underworld, as it's often depicted like a cave in these kinds of cartoons. The stalagmites reach upward. I think that's what we're seeing here.

This is a battle between Heaven and Hell.

Now, apply that to Cuphead. Why would he be dreaming about this? Well, apply the guilt aspect, and suddenly this just got really sad.

Cuphead is debating whether or not he's a good person, ie. whether or not he'll go to Heaven when he dies.

That's why he can only face towards the Devil. He has to face his inner demons and destroy them on a mental level, too, in order to overcome that trauma. And even then, those scars don't just magically disappear.

This is further evidenced by the Relic.

As soon as you win that fight, the ghost nearby says this:

"Despises bravery"?

Now, this thing basically turns on Hardcore mode. You have 1 HP and all your weapons and charms switch and randomize during fights. Basically, you have to no-hit bosses while having very little control.

The relic was awoken by Cuphead beating Devs in his dream- being brave. And, if you complete boss fights with the relic, it gains more eyelashes until it turns into the Divine Relic, which basically gives you a 3rd weapons slot from what I hear.

It's the reward for facing your fears. Your trauma.

Now, wrapping this all up, I just want to commemorate the DLC and how much it adds to the world and the characters. They didn't have to put in this last bit, but they did, and now we know more about Cuphead's mental state because of it.

Also, buddy, I think you're less than 13 you should be fine lol. Isn't that a free pass? idk. (again, non-believer, not-a-Christian.)

That's all for that. Thanks for reading.

[wishful-soda]

Mommy issues anon here (god what an awful way to introduce myself huh LOL) now i get why reader was projecting so much onto Daniel’s mom when she asked if Grace missed Daniel and if it was harder for her to watch the races from home (and just projecting in general). 60 dead, 85 injured.

Cackling at ‘Mommy issues anon’ 💀 that can be your tag if you love it 💃

But YES you’re bang on there’s a reason she’s always liked Grace so much 👀🥰 look at youuuu piecing it together

[angelfrogs]

I don’t like barem but objectively that was really funny for him to do

[not-from-mars]

“why are the beatles lookalikes so bad” because rtd spent the lookalike budget on cgi music notes and that one dance number, obviously.

[snackleggg]

I think my favourite part of The Devil's Chord is that after Paul and John play the silly little gay notes, how the piano books it away and they're both just standing there like:

🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️

They don't even come into the room to check out wtf is happening. It's so funny.

[ludinusdaleth]

the things i want to do to teven klask are unholy. which i guess he would approve of

[starryluminary]

SOMEONE ADD THIS TO THE COLLECTION