a completely improvised song/theory because I try to continuously refine my skill for procrastinating my actual work using interesting and self-improving methodologies
and yes I have a face, I know, its disturbing to me too, just focus on the mediocre guitar it'll be okay
my honorable brain rot buddy, I would like to brain rot some more on this.
one: I don't see tads mom as a plot hole; more like a plot Pandora's box. They could basically do anything with her. But without something...yeah, a bit hallow. I like your idea though. I find compelling the idea that, whoever Blakk has a kid with, shares some type of ambition, just on the side of exploration instead of power. Like a more cynic view of a gar revelle type character.
Two: this is what makes blakk's irrationally ONLY for Eli so good! He wants power and will stoop to any level to get it, but besides that, he's perfectly fine with the world being a fair and just place. This will get overshadowed by ambition (grown from trauma of course), but if it doesn't interfere, he's fine w a lot of things. It's where all the "blakk is a chill boss sometimes" memes come from, and actually contributes to my personal headcanon that he's fruity!
but Eli. Eli Shane. And will Shane, and jimmo Shane. All pretense of "well if they're not in my way it's fine" flies out the window. Their mere existence (after ep 2/3, like u mentioned) is a hinderence, so Blakk stoops to his lowest. And the animosity BUILDS. Like blakk in ROTE wants Eli to suffer so BADLY that he gives up his team's win? Just to keep him alive? so the full story of his character is: femenist as long as it doesn't negatively effect him. When it effects him, he rationally destroys the obstacle. And if your the Shane's...it crosses into an irrational hate, at some point, where the original ideal of "anything for power" crosses into the sadistic, how is this in a kids show, "anything for a power that would harm the Shane's". it's actually a good representation of how anyone can fall into evil. Be situational instead of steadfast with your feminism, and you excuse yourself for some bad shit. and when ppl don't like what your doing to them, you hold grudges, which situationally, are super logical to keep...at first...till suddenly, when you plan out what world you wanna live in, it literately MUST include the suffering of those enemies. It's a toxic pool to fall into. We see that constantly in the real world...
I love this show.
"Sad Mage, you fool, Dr. Blakk can't be a feminist he's-" [gets smacked with a pan]
"Silence heathen, you know not my reasons!"
♤
First, to quote a fic i read
"Im a businessman, not a monster" - Dr. Thaddius Blakk
And i have never agreed more.
Blakk is a horrible guy with little to no redeeming qualities, but here's the thing-
He's not like, a major d¡cƙ either.
Sure, he's a jerk to a lot of his employees, but he's not outright crule either.
Remember, Thaddius Blakk was once a traumatized kid who was to claw his way to the top. And probably witnessed a punch of messed up crap while Viggo Dare was still in charge.
And FYI a true feminist cares about men's problems
Blakk is equally himself to just about everyone he meets, you know what your getting into when you get involved with a guy like him.
Blakk does not care if you are man, woman human, elf, Moleinoid, Cave Troll, have money, or are a poor orphan on the street - all the man cares about is whether or not you're useful.
Feminism, at its core, is equality for women and men. To be on equal footing in every possible way. No discrimination. Just equal rights and equal fights.
[This next bit is kinda a tangent, tbh but i feel like it helps explain my 'Blakk genuinely dose not care' mindset]
Hell, he tried to convince Eli he wasn't all that bad when they first met, and had it not been for Burpy and the suddenly showing the young Shane that Ghoul Slug, Blakk might have convinced Eli he wasn't a threat had things just played out differently.
Blakk didn't officially become Eli's antagonist until Eli declined any sort of 'professional relationship' with him and then declare 'war' in episode 3. Because at that moment before being turned down, Eli Shane, was useful in some capacity. Even if that usefulness would have involved a lot of manipulation.
On top of that, he doesn't undermine Trixie either. While he may not personally know her name, he knows enough that Trixie Sting is an obstacle and a threat. And treats her as such.
And probably made sure his henchmen knew as much.
Then there's Dana
He went out of his way to higher one of the best Highered Marks just to track Dana down, get his blaster back, and get rid of her. Blakk, could easily not care about something like a Blaster, Blakk Industries makes them for crying out loud, he probably has a collection of them! But he goes out of his way to get that one Blaster back from Dana, and then make an example of her. Even went as far as to show up in-person to make sure.
A thing, he wouldn't do just for anyone.
Blakk's fits are rated E for Everyone
The man does not care who you are, prove yourself useful, he'll pull the strings to get you on his side, prove to be a nuisance, and you'll be dealt with accordingly regardless of who you are.
Hence me HCing the man as a Feminist.
You can stand on business, have upstanding morals, all while still being a horrible individual.
It's like Odalia from TOH. She doesn't care, Amity is into girls, she just doesn't like Luz and the rest of her daughters friends because 'their beneath them', and she wants to rule over the Demon Realm.
Same thing with Emperor Belos/Philip. The guy grew up during the era of witch hunts, yet two of his most trusted individuals were women(or female identifying). While he was going to ultimately pull off the biggest witch extermination in history, he didn't care who was working for him, as long as they were useful and fulfilled a purpose. He doesn't underestimate Luz for being a girl, just young and nieve, before getting bitch slapped with the reality this human is more resourceful then he was.
-
Now to touch on something @mrros-e my brain rot buddy in crime mentions in the tags.
How Blakk being a Feminist effects his relationship with whomever Tads mom was.
Jokes on you, friend, because i hc Tad is an oops, baby.
Yeah, that's right, Blakk had a fling with a lady, and she got knocked up and didn't tell Blakk sht
I don't know where the idea of Blakk having to have been married or even a committed relationship to have a baby spawned from, but with as much networking that guy probably had to do while building up Blakk Industries it's safe to assume he met ppl and had a few casual flings.
One of which resulted in Tad.
(And this is not me discrediting/bashing the hc of Blakk having a wife/romance partner, I think its an interesting concept and adds onto Blakk still being a human even though he may act like a monster, a concept i very much so like and will champion because i love complex villains like Blakk. But for the sake of this particular narrative and the limited clues given in cannon, lets pretend otherwise)
The woman, somehow leaving Slugterra and to the Surface, is a plot whole (let's be real, it is). But ignoring it, and just assume the lady was a Surface dweller who would sneak down to Slugterra for fun, and met Blakk by chance.
And when she did realize she was pregnant, she had a choice, and at first she wanted to tell Blakk, he was the baby's father after all, but by then Blakk had developed his reputation, and when she tried some probably thought she was after his money or something.
You know, because people suck.
So by the time Blakk learned of the pregnancy, the Lady had returned to the Surface and swore off coming down to Slugterra ever again. (For reasons)
Blakk probably tried to track her down, but was stumped because there where no records of her ever exiting in Slugterra, and then he remembered bits of their conversations, and how it sounded like she wasn't from Slugterra but the mythical world above.
Thus, his obsession with Shane Secrets begins.
I have a completely different post in my drafts I'm working on, but it relates to this a bit, and the gist of it is, Blakk would have support the woman who was pregnant and any decisions she made, but also given Tad everything he didn't have as a kid.
Again, absolutely horrible individuals can have completely, perfectly normal morals and standards. You can have a monster, give them a humanizing trate, and still be irredeemable.
Dr. Thaddius Blakk is a villain of the highest degree, but he has standards damn it.
This was an incoherent rant of a Mage in desperate need of sleep
Peace ♤
Just a post of appreciation for the slugterra-minor-character lovers:
many of you tumblr slugterra citizens adore the neutral/villian characters of slugterra. CC, Mr. Saturday, Maurice, Blite, Gar Revelle, Nacho, Billy, Mario Bravado, the gentleman, the fish pirates, basically all of the eastern caverns characters...there's alot of them. And I never talk about them, and have rarely wrote about them.
But hey, I freaking adore them too. They make Slugterra feel loved and huge and expansive. I have extensive plans on bringing Billy and Mr. Saturday and CC back in TEAL pretty soon, and all the side characters eventually - I swear thats still happening! It's just, like much of slugterra, they all need an episode where they crossed the line from "character who the audience is delighted to hc/theorize their personality and motivations" to "character who's still mysterious but there's something/some event that's solid to appreciate about them". I want to give that to them, like all of you! That's just in the ao3 realm for me.
So even if I don't reblog it, keep posting they/them Twist and CC thirst-traps and Billy polls, its clearly super fun AND you continuously remind me to write about them :)
With much love, Mister Rose
also, I think Seargeant Slug is Billy's dad.
i'm not writing this exact scene, but i am writing something very similar.
...lowkey, ive been writing for 12 hours straight....
Going back to the questions that tad and twist are in how much you want to bet that when junjies comes to visit and brings his master with him ( to see the western part) twist instantly gets ptsd just from seeing her?
Yes
Twist is not okay he has not been okay, and seeing Junjie's Master, Lian is not helping him.
Obviously, he knows they are different people, but they look alike. And for the entire visit, Twist can't look Lian in the eyes and does not want to be left alone in a room with her.
He needs therapy so badly
Eventually, I think he gets cornered and has a mini breakdown about his part in what happened to Unbeatable Master Shanai and his overall guilt.
I think its just cause in the show they see their slingers in daylight most of the time, and can just see what they're shooting - if the show had any kind of plot w junjie sneaking around, or being on lookout for sneak attacks, this could've been so cool. As it stands, it remains cool, but underutilized. Thanks for the reminder, i'm writing that in a fic now!
I can tell what sort of slug has been slung just by the sound. This won't be brought up ever again.
Junjie in “Return of the Elementals”
the entire game felt like I was watching a child playing around on some high ledge and I just had to trust them to not fall but WE STILL DID IT METS WON BBY
also, was there a snake in the Dodgers Dugout?!?
love thissssss agree 100%
hows each of the shanegang like depressed
I think some might different takes on this, but these are just mine
Eli, is one of those people who keep it to themselves. He doesn't like others seeing him sad, not because he thinks it makes him look weak, but because he doesn't want anyone to worry about him, and has this massive issue of setting aside his own problems and focusing on anything but his own problems. Like putting aside the search for his dad in favor of helping Junjie and the Eastern Caverns. (There is more context to that, but i swear every single time Will is brought up, Eli gets sad, then almost immediately perks up and redirects the conversation)
Speaking of Junjie, he's actually kinda the same way as Eli. In the early episodes of the Eastern Caverns arc, Junjie is having nightmares, and in ROTE, he admitted to as much as well to Eli in the garage, the difference is that the EC arc nightmares are worse, where as the ROTE one was probably a buried memory. He keeps shit to himself and trains to keep his mind off it.
When both Eli and Junjie eventually crash, they crash hard
Trixie also keeps it to herself, but she is more snippy and irritable. It's also kinda easy to tell when she's getting depressed because she's not filming or editing videos as often.
Pronto is eating his feelings. But not in the overly gross exaggerated way.
Kord buries himself in mechanic work. Troll's got to feel useful. He also gets in like a slump and is very clearly upset. I like to think Kord is like the most emotionally intelligent member of the Gang, so he is rather open about how he's feeling most of the time. But knows not to trauma dump, everyone in the Gangs got there own stuff to deal with.
I was just thinking about this if you had rewritten Slugterra accession what would you do differently? Would you bring back Dr.Blakk as the main antagonist? Or would you bring in a new villain for the Shane gang to go up against? Let me know what you think.
soory yall ive been so busyyyy BUT
Blakk would have a lasting effect, but he would not be the main antagonist. at least not for a while. cause i think this show could have been so loooooooong....id introduce blakk in like season 7 lol. honestly, slugterra has a rich tapestry of small compelling villains, with some being more important than others depending on their alliances. i'd bring back the old classics (saturday, cc, twist, maurice, blite, you name it) and also add new players - ones that grew undr blakk's shadow, ones that were released/escaped from prison for some reason, ones that hid to wait out blakk's plans and now finally feel ready to make their debut, or even some legendary evil ppl that in age have come to terrorize one cavern and, compacent, their terror hasn't been on wider slugterra's radar. and hell, it could be people killing, or controlling, but it could also be small stuff again, like a kid abusing slugs, or other implicited abusive stuff going on (cause kid show, but cmonnnn, its slugterra, they are so good at being like "yes ur honor this dude was mind controlled for 20 years and we simply let the audience look into the explicit behaviors that we animated for him afterwards" they could so do that w harsher subjects)
i would do...everything different. keep the gang together. have everyone - especially eli - grapple with the concept of how to move forward and make slugterra better - stopping those slug markets and whatnot - while also contending with their trust issues (and possible depression, in elis case) after tad. out with the universal slug or whatever, bring in wtf dana's been doing with the shadow walker - maybe shes been exploring shadow clan territory in the south and calls the shane gang when she finds new shane secrets/treasure. maybe his could be a segmented like a show - some episodes are the gang trying to fight crime but also help people out, supporting programs that make the world better, and the other half is involving a tense plotline with the shadow clan about uncovering the stuff dana found (maybe a secret passage to the back end of the deep caverns, in a cavern that's thin enough to where the shadow walker could just barely manage to take a traveler to the other side). In both plots, old and new characters get introduced and recontextualized in the absence of Blakk, especially Twist, who would probably come back in the context of "hey, why not help out the gang covertly into finding will and rescuing him so i can kill him or something!", getting more evil from his time and trauma w blakk but then as eli's hero worship of the shanes and will decays further it prompts him to come back to the good side?
That was a rant but yeah - came up w that on the fly. But I actally wrote a little of a story involving after ItS - one called "I'm sorry, I dont know what the moon looks like tonight", whose later scenes take place after ItS, and TEAL "To End A Legacy" (which is my first slgterra fanfic) where i continued the slugterra plot....in a really dark way...and IM GONNA FINISH IT 2025 IS THE YEAR I FINISH THINGS I SWEAR-
find me on ao3 at Mister Rose, i havent done stuff in a little bit but ill come back i always do (post 2017)
..............................................
i made him close some plot holes instead............
I'm sorry........Maurice, my beloved........