After being on here for years and having an Ao3 even longer than that, I have finally added a link to my profile! Feel free to look around, or get started with one of the links below:
General Stuff
SkyStar but they're cats
TFP MegaStar have a bad time in the SG universe
- Includes official SG MegaStar prequel, written by @bairdcrevan
Domestic G1 MegaProwl
Erotica
Series of SkyStar BDSM
SkyStar but they met during the war (enemies as lovers)
SkyStar but Skyfire has spines on his spike
Cowritten with @grayseeker
SkyStar being bad at humaning (holoforms)
SkyStar with (Skyfire's) parents
New
G1 Prowl recovering from a head injury
(Also, I do art sometimes! Check out #my art for bits of drawings and some minor 3D modeling experiments).
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Today on touching media I know nothing about, a non-post-apocalyptic setting fan watches Fallout (only the first two episodes, because these are an hour long each).
Episode 1.
Oh good, the president of the USA is missing. Starting out strong.
I got distracted by the horse's name being Sugarfoot and had to back up twenty seconds to catch the conversation. Starting out strong.
Yes, put the kids in front of the TV so they can watch the apocalypse happen in real time. The Challenger all over again (actually, the TV is black and white, what year is this? Has the Challenger happened yet?)
That. Was a white flash. That. Was a nuclear bomb. That. Is a mushroom cloud. And that is the shockwave.
That. Is a lot of bombs.
(Chocolate break while my heartrate returns to normal. Also, the Challenger happened in 1986, so TV was in color by then).
Oh, 219 years later, we don't care if any of those people survived, okay then. Hi Lucy.
"My reproductive organs are intact."
I'm sorry, what. Why is that relevant.
Why does this look like a wedding. Did I miss something? (On backing up, I may have missed something. Is this "try and yield" thing a breeding thing? Is that why the organs are relevant?)
Aww, they're partners. That's sweet. I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen to the blond.
This is the most ominous wedding I have ever seen. This feels like people are going to be murdered.
"In exchange, we offer you a breeder."
You know, I was being facetious about the breeding thing.
"Do you have a name?"
Why is that how you worded that?
"So what's your sperm count?"
Holy dehumanization. Wow.
I know that's a grain silo behind the guy talking, but it looks very penile (oh, the guy talking is Lucy's father. Okay then).
Ominous glimpse of tunnels for no apparent reason. I'm sure that's fine.
Should I be concerned about those scars on Monty's back? They don't look random.
Oh. That's a body. I think I should be concerned about Monty's scars (does Fallout have zombies? Or I guess they'd probably be mutants because of the radiation. I know nothing).
I know nothing except that Monty has a lot of scars that look kinda less like scars and more like healing wounds, and I am Concerned (oh hey, I know that clicking sound! That's a Geiger counter. And Monty is setting it off. He is radioactive. And a bad guy, apparently).
We are hitting people in the face with glass now, so I'm going to stop looking at the screen (I don't even have to look to know she just pulled out the knife, you don't do that. Was basic first aid not among the many things you learned? Never mind, this is their first aid, this is the future and it's based on a video game, they have healing items).
Something bad happened to the blond. I'm just gonna. Look away for a minute. Again.
And They're All Dead. Probably. Maybe they got far enough away from the bomb in time (I should probably know some names by now, but I literally only know Lucy. And Monty, but he's no longer with us).
And now we have a different group of people whose names I will not learn and who have a high chance of dying in the next 20 minutes. Hi Maximus (it's going to be hilarious if I only learn the names that get presented to me on title cards).
High-tech steampunk airship, nice. I keep forgetting this is the future.
I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen to Maximus' friend.
What the holy fuck happened to that guy's foot? I think that was Maximus' friend, but you know what, I'm not going back to check! No thank you!
Oh, some of Lucy's people are alive. I can't tell if her partner is one of them.
Hey, I have learned some names! Norm is Lucy's brother, and the other guy is... Chet? Chad? Soon to be deceased? Maybe he's just not relevant.
That. Is a skull. And those are bones. And petrified bodies, presumably.
Okay, so that was Maximus' friend whose foot was. Injured. Can't decide if Maximus actually did it or not. Feels like I'm supposed to think he did it.
Oh hey, I know who this guy is (I have absolutely no idea who this guy is, I've just seen pictures of him floating around. Maybe he's the guy from the prologue. For now, I guess he's just "the Ghoul". Not gonna be hard to remember that).
Episode 2.
I am going to pretend I never saw that.
Four minutes of relatively peaceful screentime devoted to raising this dog. Four minutes. I have only seen one episode and I'm already mistrustful of such a long period without Horrors (ah, there we go).
Oh wait. Maximus was sent after a guy with a canine companion. I guess this is the guy.
I have never thought about what a tumbleweed must look like to someone who's lived in an artificial environment their whole life. Even the plants have dead roaming around.
I hate the way the jaunty tune fades into an ominous rumble and then casually returns to being jaunty. And that is a compliment, because It is deeply unsettling.
I. Hate. That. Cockroach. That is not a compliment.
Of all the things to survive two hundred years into the future. It's Spam. That checks out.
How did Maximus and the Knight just happen to end up this close to their target when they were meant to search somewhere else? I think I missed something again.
This Knight has no self-preservation instinct. Dead because he couldn't keep his mouth shut for five minutes.
"Had an aunt as well, she got killed there once."
Oh, well, as long as it was only once.
Are there any decent humans in this world. Why does everyone just hate everyone. How does humanity last 200 years without cooperation. Why do post-apocalyptic worlds always do this.
How does the doctor know so much about the Vaults? Did that chip he injected into his neck give him mind reading abilities or something? (I guess we're never gonna know, my money's on him dying in the next five minutes. Who gave the Ghoul explosive bullets).
Oh good, we've got all the main characters in one place. And the doctor survived past the five minute mark.
"This could maybe work."
"Do you really mean that?"
I don't think she does.
The doctor survived a whole ten minutes longer than I expected. Still not gonna find out how he knows any of what he knows, though. Not from him, anyway. I wonder what the next episode is called.
Moldever! That's the villain's name. Or Moldevre? (Hold on, need to look it up. Moldaver. I can kinda see how I got "Milgrave" out of that).
I'mma guess this guy is the Ghoul in his past life (okay, yup, that's his voice. This might even be the guy from the prologue in episode 1, but I don't think the voice is right).
Oh, never mind, this is absolutely the same guy, the voice was wrong because it was a movie shoot, lol.
"The audience. Yeah? They already know you're a good man. They wanna see that even a good man as yourself can be driven too far sometimes."
As an audience myself, I rather like when good characters stick to their morals, unless there's a compelling story-based reason to push them over the edge. What-ifs are what the fanfics are for.
"You see, it turns out, Bob's a bit of a communist."
So are we talking like Red Scare? Or sometime after that? I guess it doesn't matter since it's the past.
The guy's reaction to the lavender taffy is exactly my reaction to the one time I tried vodka. Right down to spitting it out.
The morbid humor of carrying a disembodied head by the hair while chill music plays. Which is somehow less jarring than the branded box of deviled eggs Lucy is just carrying around. I am concerned by "pure dried whole". Was this meant to be astronaut food?
That is a very fake disembodied head. Thankfully.
Maximus had better hope there's not a tracker on that armor. Oh hey, salvagers found it first.
Judging by the almost immediate arrival of the Brotherhood, there is in fact a tracker in that armor.
What the heck kind of animal was that? Looked like a mutant axolotl (a gulper, apparently. That has never told me so much and yet so little).
I was gonna say Maximus is having too much fun bullying this guy, but the word "bully" made me realize, I think this is one of Maximus' bullies. So he's not just being a jerk for the heck of it (I swear, being faceblind is like being asked to solve a mystery every time a minor character shows up).
"..."
"Do you think this was him?"
"Hard to tell. Show me the illustration."
Hmm, yes. Identification of a headless corpse using a portrait.
I wonder if Lucy's Geiger counter is going off because of the Ghoul or the gulper. Probably both.
OKAY, yup, mutant axolotl.
And the bully feels bad. Maybe Maximus will lay off on him a bit.
Oh hey, Lucy's partner is alive! And she is encouraging Norm to commit murder.
I think the bully's about to be axolotl food (okay, very nearly, but not quite. He is so lucky that thing didn't have teeth).
Okay, so the bully said ghouls are radioactive, and they were tracking the Ghoul via a Geiger counter. But Lucy's counter specifically does not go off around the Ghoul, because now it's going off randomly. Which is a bad thing for them, no doubt, but it also calls into question whether the bully was working with accurate information. Interesting. Or a plot hole.
With the black and white TVs, Bob getting fired for allegations of communism, and the nuclear threat, I am dating the past as between 1945 and 1965.
Episode 4.
Oh, a clinic. Nothing bad ever happens in clinics and hospitals.
Oh, a ghoul. This one's in a bit rougher shape than the Ghoul. Oh, he's dead now. Just gonna minimize the window for this bit.
Okay, so Lucy's mother died in the Great Plague of '77. That would be 2177, so take off 219 years and... That narrows the past down to between 1958 and 1965.
The would-be overseers are having an election. Probably the most toothless election ever, the way they're complimenting each other's posters.
Okay, it's the water that's setting off the Geiger counter. Kind of annoying how it just randomly stops clicking when she gets close to it.
I have a name for the blond now! You are Steph. And you are. Trying to replace your late husband with the former gatekeeper. And that is going exactly where I thought it was going to go, okay.
So what I am getting from this scene is that one: when Steph told Lucy she was looking forward to raising their kids together, she meant "our separate kids whom we had separately because we're both married to different people". No idea how I misinterpreted that. The other thing I'm getting from this scene is that Steph wanted this guy, not her late husband. Entirely possible I'm misinterpreting that too.
And now there is a robot. And it has a caduceus painted on it. Who is making medical robots in this wasteland.
"I am simply going to harvest your organs."
Me, out loud: "Oh."
Honestly, that tracks. Makes more sense than a random benign medical robot.
Returning to Vault 32. This is fine. Not like there were bodies there that looked like they'd been dead for a while or anything.
Why is this TV also in black and white? You're telling me they have fancy wrist-worn computers and whatever technology goes into keeping the Vaults habitable, and no one in 200 years has had the free time and gumption to modernize TVs even slightly?
And also I guess the mice are relevant or something. Did everyone in Vault 32 kill each other?
And another black and white TV. I have never seen something so sleek and futuristic, yet so stuck in the past.
Not how defibrillators usually save lives, but that certainly works.
"Oh gosh."
That's one way to react to realizing you just set loose a bunch of hungry ghouls. And that you're on the menu.
And They All Died. For real this time.
(Norm's mother died in 2177 and I'm thinking this new information means she opened Vault 32's door at least two years ago? So current year is estimated at 2179 and the past is between 1960 and 1965).
"Golden rule, motherfucker."
I think that's the first time I've heard Lucy swear properly, and the timing could not have been better.
This ancient video tape has me wondering if the TVs are actually black and white, or if it's just that everything available to be played on them was filmed in black and white.
On double-checking episode 1, the black and white TV in the past was pretty much the same design, but a different model, and probably a different brand. The one in the present and the one in Vault 32 were the same model and brand. Given that the Vaults should not have technology from the same source as the surface unless said technology predates the end of the world, either people are keeping ancient relics fully functional in all their black and white glory, or someone from the surface left that TV in Vault 32 on purpose.
Either way, this world's television truly did not advance beyond black and white. Fascinating.
Wonder what Maximus is up to. No sign of him in this episode.
Episodes 5 and 6. Episode 5 is surprisingly short.
Thaddeus. The bully has a name now. My list grows.
And right as I actually learn his name, he might die (nope. Not this time).
Oh, not the cockroaches again (judging by the aggression, Lucy feels the same way).
Great idea, Maximus. Ask her to trust you then don't give her your real name. I mean, I know you were just betrayed, and you need her to address you by the right name if anyone from the Brotherhood sees you. And I'm sure you're hoping to catch up with and kill Thaddeus, and then spend the rest of your life pretending to be Knight Titus. I get the reasoning. But that is absolutely going to come back to bite you.
Norman and Chester. So I guess the ex-gatekeeper is Chet, then.
"One day we will have the incredible opportunity to repopulate the Earth, and bring order and civility up to the surface."
There are so many things wrong with that sentence.
"So like, Earth is round, Earth is flat, where are you guys at on that these days?"
No notes, just funny.
Excuse me, why is this computer saying the current year is 2297. That's about 120 years off from my calculations.
I do not trust Betty. And now I don't trust Steph either.
And now there is a sign saying the New California Republic was established in 2142 (Lucy is having a crisis. Same).
That is a big crater. The oddly well-preserved vehicles and architecture are starting to make a lot more sense.
Oh goody, a medical laboratory. That is neither a clinic nor a hospital, so only good things can happen here. Research and development, no less.
Why is the Vault 33 meeting being held in the tunnels of death. And a follow up question, how do you plan to repopulate Vault 32 with only a few dozen people.
Congratulations, Lucy and Maximus, you are now the experiments in this laboratory.
I was going to ask what a Vault was doing under that lab, but you know what, Vaults 31-33 imply the existence of at least 30 more Vaults. So maybe a better question is whether this Vault is as isolated from the surface as the other three.
Episode 6.
"Strong enough to keep out the rads. And the reds."
The apparent 2070s have a remarkable amount in common with Cold War era USA. Including black and white television.
Oh wait a second. Lucy said something about "the last 300 years of American history" before the Great War. The USA is only 250 years old. I assumed she was talking about the colony days, but that math actually checks out. So I guess this is the 2070s. Remarkably similar in aesthetic to the 1950s. Aside from the existence of power armor, apparently.
All right then, I am officially declaring this an AU Earth where TV just stayed black and white for some reason. Timeline coherency restored.
You know what, this also explains Lucy's weird deviled eggs.
This guy was the medical robot's voice. Literally the voice actor. So much lore being dropped in this episode specifically.
This Vault has surface foragers? Do the other Vaults have surface foragers? Is that why 31 is so secretive?
Train of thought completely derailed by apparent aphrodisiac drugging for what I can only assume are breeding purposes, and then set on fire by the Brotherhood having the worst possible sex ed conceivable.
You know. I wasn't being facetious about the experiments thing, but I did think we were past that.
Lucy, I am going to need you to tie your hair back again, having it down is messing with my face recognition.
"This is a cult!"
Ohhhh. Yeah, that's why the Vaults give me weird vibes. You know, apart from the breeding, and the dehumanization, and the fooling around with cousins, and.
I am no longer questioning this Vault being under a medical laboratory.
So much lore in this episode, dang.
These humming glowing blue rods seem like a safe energy source.
There's those deviled eggs again. And Blamco mac n cheese, I remember that being mentioned. And I guess this AU Earth has Cram, not Spam.
Why does the uh. Why is the wallpaper covered in stylized atomic bombs. Seems a bit insensitive.
There is a non-zero chance the cult has just gotten to Maximus. And all it took was running water.
Are you Lucy? I can't tell with your hair down and the scab on your lip gone (okay, yes, the giant 33 on your suit is an excellent identifier, thank you).
The fall of Shady Sands was 2277. Same year as the plague that purportedly killed Lucy's mother, though at this point I'm thinking she is not dead.
"The Govermint".
Oh, is Moldaver also over 200 years old?
This. Is. A. Cult. Aaaand clothes are coming off. Oh, this is a blood cult. I am going to assume from Lucy's reaction that this Flame Mother they're worshipping is Moldaver (in retrospect, it is incredibly funny to me that I misremembered her name as "Milgrave").
Yup. They got Maximus.
Okay, pausing to try and guess what's on Level 12. So this is a cult that does experiments on people's bodies and the half that came from the surface is covering themselves in the ashes of the fallen. Could be Level 12 is where the experiments happen, but those don't seem to be much of a secret. They probably aren't making ghouls. Don't need mind control. I have no idea. Let's find out.
This place is welcoming. Horrifying sound design (complimentary). Thaaat kind of looks like a gulper. Or a sea snake. I think it had teeth, but it's hard to tell. Jars of body parts. A video of someone being eaten by carnivorous fish? (backing up 30 seconds was not a good idea). Oh, and pods with living people in them.
And then there is Maximus in his fluffy white robe, eating popcorn and watching TV. One person's nightmare has become the other's dream, and vice versa.
Oh hey, Maximus said he thought the Vaults were full of monsters. Guess he was right, there do seem to be monsters being made here. Or some kind of fish things, anyway.
People who gen belive Alastor didn't care about Vox nor his murders/suicide attempt at all baffle me. Bc like from a purely narrative perspective obviously Alastor's view on frienship and vods are being set up to be challenged and proven wrong. And like do they really think the series is just gonna ignore the character who we've spent an entire season seeing almost as much as the protagonist, who's relationship with Alastor and how it broke due to Alastor's actitude towards closeness has been essential to said season? Not only would It be a huge waste but It would also weaken the message if Alastor learned to be more open with his emotions and let people in except Vox specifically bc he actually never cared bc fuck you or something.
Like seriously I can't conceave of how someone thinking about this for more than a minute would wholeheartedly end up reaching this conclusión. Unless of course you're only saying this to be petty about a ship you don't like, but we all know nooooobosy would do that.. right?
this is not only... well petty but also stupid because you should be able to separate your tastes and what's actually happening on screen
like I don't like radi0apple, but since I'm neither blind nor stupid I can very much tell the interactions they have are very... ship-y for lack of a better word, and I can aknowlege this reality in spite of my distante for it or the implications it may have for the future, easy
Anyways srry if this was too long
If you had asked me right after I watched the show what I thought the most popular Lucifer ship was, I would have assumed it was with his wife. Because he's only had meaningful interactions with like, five characters so far, and two of them are his daughter and her girlfriend. The remaining three would all be enemies to lovers, so they're all on equal footing as far as the trope. I was surprised by how many fics were shipping him with Adam, so that wouldn't have been my first choice either.
If I had to pick a character he's actually had screentime with, Alastor would have been my guess. But only by default, because Lucifer and Vox didn't meet until S2. Otherwise I would have picked Vox, because they didn't hate each other the moment they met (also because Vox is way calmer in the face of Lucifer's mockery than Alastor is, so they actually have a dynamic beyond petty squabbling).
I actually came away from my first viewing without a Lucifer ship, because I did not see any romantic potential between him and anyone else (obviously StaticApple converted me, but that was after the fact). And I still have no idea what people see in RadioApple apart from them having one song together and enemies to lovers being a popular trope.
So the implication here is that I must blind and/or stupid. Interesting.
As for Alastor and Vox, there are people who, for reasons unknown to me, want Alastor to be pure and unrepentant evil. I assume they think it would be more interesting than nuance. Or perhaps they value the Rule of Cool over storytelling. They may even disagree with the message of the show entirely, and think Charlie needs to learn that some people will never change. Who can say.
There are also people who think Vox should have died in the S2 finale. Not sure what that would have done for the story. Maybe some people just don't want to risk a villain getting redemption or a second chance in our show about redemption and second chances.
I can guarantee you that if Charlie is ever put in a position to personally kill a villain and chooses not to, there will be an uproar from fans who think justice and murder are synonymous. This is not a prediction, it's a promise.
What do you think about the somewhat common tendency in the Hazbin fandom of down playing or right out ignoring Vox's... well artistic skills and parts of his character?
I find it to be a sad, but unsurprising side effect of the ways people interpret his character and the stereotypes they apply to him, as well as a stereotype in its own right. And arguably the single biggest disservice done to his character by the fandom (I am not joking).
Creativity is a trait normally attributed to people who are rebellious, absentminded, sensitive, colorful, and expressive with their physical appearance and environment. Some interpretations of Vox might hit one or two of those, but for the most part he's treated as a Serious Businessman who only wears suits and is entirely focused on the real world. If he does have a creative outlet, it's something practical and tech-based like coding or electrical engineering. And of course, the most disparaging takes will outright say he's incapable of creativity because he just steals from and copies others.
Canon Vox doesn't really fit the creative stereotype either, especially when compared to the other Vees. He's the most business-minded, the one scolding the other two for rocking the boat, and the one who's rarely seen in flashy outfits. Where the other two have decked out their rooms with plants and hearts and comfortable furnishings, his rooms are tidy and minimalistic. And compared to Valentino in particular, who is explicitly a skilled artist and does fit the sentimental, absentminded stereotype to an extent (an extent that is pretty much limited to the other Vees, but still), Vox tries to keep people at arm's length and tends to come across as pretty goal-oriented.
The thing is. When you go in and divide the Vees into the Creative and Artsy Ones and the Boring Tech Guy. You are losing yet another thing Vox isn't insecure about.
Again, Valentino is a skilled artist, in multiple mediums, and Velvette is a professional designer (we haven't seen any of her drawn work, but there's a drafting table in her room). Meanwhile, Vox is a perfectionist who clearly enjoys creative pursuits, but is very much not as advanced as they are. He has every reason to hide the fact that he draws at all, never mind letting them see the results. But not only is he presenting his own art without fear of judgement, he's presenting imperfect work.
If you look at the right side of the rainbow on his drawing of the hotel crew, you will notice a random white patch that doesn't match the rest of the background. This would be a result of drawing on paper with something that doesn't erase, then deciding you want to change it. In this case, it seems like the rainbow was probably drawn over the hotel, and Vox didn't like how it looked. So he then used white to cover up everything behind the rainbow. But since it's a different shade of white than the paper, it isn't a subtle fix. It shows.
And he left it that way! Not only did he not redraw it, he still included it in his presentation and showed it to his professionally artistic friends.
Like. Fanon Vox does tech stuff. He codes or messes with electronics, with no competition from the other Vees, and he's good at it. He has to be good at it, because if he's not, it's not perfect.
Canon Vox makes collages with clippings that still have parts of the background attached, and draws pictures with big white blotches in the middle. He lets himself make things that aren't perfect, with physical materials that don't have an undo button, just because he likes doing it.
I repeat: Fanon Vox does tech stuff with no competition from his friends. Canon Vox draws, which his friends are better at. His sin on Earth was envy, which led him to kill people. His fatal flaw is that he always wants more than what he has. Yet here he is, engaging in something those closest to him do at a higher skill level, and enjoying it for its own sake. There is no compulsion to be better than them, or to sabotage them to make himself feel better, or even to hide the flaws in his own work. It doesn't matter if he's not the best, or if it's not perfect. He just likes doing it.
In a small, inconsequential, but very real way, he is acting against his sin by indulging his creative side for fun. And when he has a hobby that's different from the other Vees, which doesn't pose a threat to his ego and has no reason to wake his darkest impulses, he loses that.
And that is why I think his silly drawings are one of the most important parts of his character.
Do you have any thoughts regarding how Lilith could potentially be handled in the show?
Personally, I'm hoping for "non-villainous antagonist". Charlie needs a new source of personal conflict now that the hotel has been proven to work and has guests who actually want to be redeemed, otherwise she's achieved her dream midway through the series. And we can't have that (she still doesn't know exactly how redemption works, but now that Heaven is on board, there's no urgency to figure it out). So something like her mother not supporting her dream would provide a new conflict that's specifically driven by her goals and desires.
As far as what canon gives us to work with, there are three points of interest to me.
The Morningstar family drama.
And I don't mean "Lilith ghosted her daughter and husband for eight years".
The series starts with Charlie admitting that she has no idea where Lilith is or what she's doing, but it's "Something important, I'm sure."
When Charlie lists Lilith's strengths, she trails off into a despondent, "Ignoring meaningless things. And people." To which Lucifer replies, "Yuuup. She was uh... good at that."
When Charlie tells Vaggi the hotel was her way of finishing what Lilith started, she says she hoped that if it worked, "Maybe she'd come back and tell me what I did to make her leave."
Not only is Charlie not worried about her mother disappearing for years, she thinks it was her fault, and it sounds like Lilith ignoring her family in favor of "more important things" wasn't unusual. People get on Lucifer for being a bad husband and father, but honestly, it doesn't seem like Lilith was much better as a wife and mother! A better ruler, absolutely, and Charlie seems to have been closer with her than with Lucifer (understandable, given Lilith seems not to share Lucifer's opinion of Sinners), but I don't think Lucifer is the only one at fault here.
Lilith's deal with Adam.
Obviously I want to know what it entailed and why she made it, but I'm also interested in the fact that Sera seems to have known about it. Or at least, she knows Lilith is in Heaven, grows tense the moment Lute says she talked to her, and has not said a word about her to Charlie. Which makes sense to a point, because they've only properly met twice, and they both had a lot on their minds the second time. But some unknown amount of time has passed between the S2 climax and the epilogue, so Sera could have said something.
My thinking is that Lilith finally calling back is Sera's way of saying something, because if she was barred from contacting her family, she may now have permission to do so. It's also possible that she was choosing not to, but by all accounts, she was stirring up trouble in Hell before her disappearance, and I don't think Sera would have gotten so angry at Lute unless she didn't want Lilith involved in what was going on. It makes more sense to me that Lilith simply wasn't allowed (Lute telling her to deal with Charlie if she wants to stay in Heaven does imply that she's there by choice, but it could also be that Lute just sees no reason why anyone would ever want to leave).
I have no idea what the deal itself was about, but I hope we get a flashback for it. A major mystery like that needs a flashback, not just a character talking (and if I were to be greedy, I would like a duet between Lilith and Adam for it. We haven't seen a deal made in the context of a song yet, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. And singing is what Lilith is known for, so why not?)
Lilith's resistance.
I don't think she was necessarily angling for war, but between Charlie's account of things and Vox's, I honestly think Vox may have been closer to the mark. I wouldn't call Charlie a pacifist because she will choose violence if pushed hard enough, but she does prefer peaceful solutions whenever and wherever possible, and she idolizes her mother. If Lilith's ideals didn't match Charlie's, Charlie would have to choose between her own beliefs and her desire for Lilith's approval. And she doesn't want to do that, which means she can't accept the possibility that Lilith didn't want the same things she does.
Vox, meanwhile, literally talks about Lilith's alleged war to anyone who will listen, both privately and publicly, and with no concern about being called out for lying. And he never is called out by anyone but Charlie. Whatever Lilith was doing, I think it was a bit more than just peaceful protests.
Based on what the show has given us so far, I think it would make the most narrative sense for Lilith to be someone Charlie ultimately doesn't want to emulate. Not a villain, but someone who pushes her to change in ways she refuses to.
Basically what I'm thinking is. S2 set up Charlie and Vox with parallel narratives, and one of those shared elements was that they both have someone they look(ed) up to, they were both hurt by that person and blamed for it (Charlie blames herself, Alastor blames Vox), yet they both still want(ed) that person's approval. And in Vox's case, coming back into constant contact with that person led him to turn his back on his own values in a desperate bid for approval.
I want to see Charlie put in that same position. She was already calling Lilith constantly to ask for advice, so it would be the most natural thing to establish a dynamic where she follows every suggestion for fear that she'll mess up and lose her mom again (or endanger her friends again). She doesn't want to choose between her beliefs and Lilith's approval, so obviously the thing to do is make her choose.
Now, my headcanon for Lilith is that she's someone who greatly values free will, even if she doesn't agree with how it's used. So for me, Charlie staying true to herself no matter what would actually be the thing that makes Lilith proud of her. Because I would like to see the Morningstars eventually work things out. I just want drama first.
The other possibility is that Charlie keeps trying to ask Lilith for advice but is always rebuffed on grounds that, as Princess of Hell, she has to learn to trust herself and make her own decisions. I personally like the first option better, but the second has potential.
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Are there any other Hazbin characters that read as autistic to you?
Not to me personally. I can see why some people headcanon Lucifer as autistic, and I considered the possibility with Alastor, but neither of them give me the same "there is definitely something going on here" vibe.
Like, Vox is pretty obvious once you notice, because there usually isn't an alternative explanation for his behavior. His monologuing approach to conversations shows up in multiple contexts, with both friends and enemies, so it's not (always) him trying to control the interaction. That's just how he socializes. Same for his inconsistent eye contact, use of non-communicative gestures, and inappropriate social touch. Even if it's intentional sometimes, he's doing it all the time, and with everyone. Throw in the stimming and sensory seeking, which he also does all the time, and his limited interest in close relationships, and he easily clears the behavioral criteria.
In Lucifer's case, social skills degrade if you don't use them, and he's been isolating for a long time (and that isolation can be better explained by depression and a shortage of people he wants to interact with than by an overall lack of interest in socializing). So even as awkward as he is, to me his interactions with others just read like he's been alone for far too long. And aside from his fixation with ducks, he doesn't seem to meet any of the non-social criteria (in fairness, he's only been a major part of two episodes, and only has a scene or two in most others he appears in).
Then with Alastor, it's like... If you interpret his touch aversion as being sensory, and his refusal to change with the times as rigid thinking, you could meet the non-social criteria. But I don't think he meets any of the social criteria, because all of his behaviors could be explained as something else.
He isn't close with many people, but we don't know if it's because he isn't interested in relationships, or if it's trust issues and/or trauma (his reaction to Vox calling them friends suggests the latter, but it could also be both). He makes little effort to relate to or connect emotionally with people, but we don't know if it's because he doesn't care or because he doesn't want to care (again, evidence suggests the latter). He does make less eye contact and grander gestures when he's putting on a performance or trying to get a reaction out of people, and he does touch people inappropriately when he's manipulating or mocking them. But otherwise his use of gesture and eye contact is comparable to the other characters', and considering the context, he probably knows he shouldn't touch people that way.
Though I will say I relate to Alastor's habit of sitting quietly and watching the rest of the group do their thing. Pretty much how I socialize too.
Today on touching media I know nothing about, a non-post-apocalyptic setting fan watches Fallout (only the first two episodes, because these are an hour long each).
Episode 1.
Oh good, the president of the USA is missing. Starting out strong.
I got distracted by the horse's name being Sugarfoot and had to back up twenty seconds to catch the conversation. Starting out strong.
Yes, put the kids in front of the TV so they can watch the apocalypse happen in real time. The Challenger all over again (actually, the TV is black and white, what year is this? Has the Challenger happened yet?)
That. Was a white flash. That. Was a nuclear bomb. That. Is a mushroom cloud. And that is the shockwave.
That. Is a lot of bombs.
(Chocolate break while my heartrate returns to normal. Also, the Challenger happened in 1986, so TV was in color by then).
Oh, 219 years later, we don't care if any of those people survived, okay then. Hi Lucy.
"My reproductive organs are intact."
I'm sorry, what. Why is that relevant.
Why does this look like a wedding. Did I miss something? (On backing up, I may have missed something. Is this "try and yield" thing a breeding thing? Is that why the organs are relevant?)
Aww, they're partners. That's sweet. I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen to the blond.
This is the most ominous wedding I have ever seen. This feels like people are going to be murdered.
"In exchange, we offer you a breeder."
You know, I was being facetious about the breeding thing.
"Do you have a name?"
Why is that how you worded that?
"So what's your sperm count?"
Holy dehumanization. Wow.
I know that's a grain silo behind the guy talking, but it looks very penile (oh, the guy talking is Lucy's father. Okay then).
Ominous glimpse of tunnels for no apparent reason. I'm sure that's fine.
Should I be concerned about those scars on Monty's back? They don't look random.
Oh. That's a body. I think I should be concerned about Monty's scars (does Fallout have zombies? Or I guess they'd probably be mutants because of the radiation. I know nothing).
I know nothing except that Monty has a lot of scars that look kinda less like scars and more like healing wounds, and I am Concerned (oh hey, I know that clicking sound! That's a Geiger counter. And Monty is setting it off. He is radioactive. And a bad guy, apparently).
We are hitting people in the face with glass now, so I'm going to stop looking at the screen (I don't even have to look to know she just pulled out the knife, you don't do that. Was basic first aid not among the many things you learned? Never mind, this is their first aid, this is the future and it's based on a video game, they have healing items).
Something bad happened to the blond. I'm just gonna. Look away for a minute. Again.
And They're All Dead. Probably. Maybe they got far enough away from the bomb in time (I should probably know some names by now, but I literally only know Lucy. And Monty, but he's no longer with us).
And now we have a different group of people whose names I will not learn and who have a high chance of dying in the next 20 minutes. Hi Maximus (it's going to be hilarious if I only learn the names that get presented to me on title cards).
High-tech steampunk airship, nice. I keep forgetting this is the future.
I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen to Maximus' friend.
What the holy fuck happened to that guy's foot? I think that was Maximus' friend, but you know what, I'm not going back to check! No thank you!
Oh, some of Lucy's people are alive. I can't tell if her partner is one of them.
Hey, I have learned some names! Norm is Lucy's brother, and the other guy is... Chet? Chad? Soon to be deceased? Maybe he's just not relevant.
That. Is a skull. And those are bones. And petrified bodies, presumably.
Okay, so that was Maximus' friend whose foot was. Injured. Can't decide if Maximus actually did it or not. Feels like I'm supposed to think he did it.
Oh hey, I know who this guy is (I have absolutely no idea who this guy is, I've just seen pictures of him floating around. Maybe he's the guy from the prologue. For now, I guess he's just "the Ghoul". Not gonna be hard to remember that).
Episode 2.
I am going to pretend I never saw that.
Four minutes of relatively peaceful screentime devoted to raising this dog. Four minutes. I have only seen one episode and I'm already mistrustful of such a long period without Horrors (ah, there we go).
Oh wait. Maximus was sent after a guy with a canine companion. I guess this is the guy.
I have never thought about what a tumbleweed must look like to someone who's lived in an artificial environment their whole life. Even the plants have dead roaming around.
I hate the way the jaunty tune fades into an ominous rumble and then casually returns to being jaunty. And that is a compliment, because It is deeply unsettling.
I. Hate. That. Cockroach. That is not a compliment.
Of all the things to survive two hundred years into the future. It's Spam. That checks out.
How did Maximus and the Knight just happen to end up this close to their target when they were meant to search somewhere else? I think I missed something again.
This Knight has no self-preservation instinct. Dead because he couldn't keep his mouth shut for five minutes.
"Had an aunt as well, she got killed there once."
Oh, well, as long as it was only once.
Are there any decent humans in this world. Why does everyone just hate everyone. How does humanity last 200 years without cooperation. Why do post-apocalyptic worlds always do this.
How does the doctor know so much about the Vaults? Did that chip he injected into his neck give him mind reading abilities or something? (I guess we're never gonna know, my money's on him dying in the next five minutes. Who gave the Ghoul explosive bullets).
Oh good, we've got all the main characters in one place. And the doctor survived past the five minute mark.
"This could maybe work."
"Do you really mean that?"
I don't think she does.
The doctor survived a whole ten minutes longer than I expected. Still not gonna find out how he knows any of what he knows, though. Not from him, anyway. I wonder what the next episode is called.
Moldever! That's the villain's name. Or Moldevre? (Hold on, need to look it up. Moldaver. I can kinda see how I got "Milgrave" out of that).
I'mma guess this guy is the Ghoul in his past life (okay, yup, that's his voice. This might even be the guy from the prologue in episode 1, but I don't think the voice is right).
Oh, never mind, this is absolutely the same guy, the voice was wrong because it was a movie shoot, lol.
"The audience. Yeah? They already know you're a good man. They wanna see that even a good man as yourself can be driven too far sometimes."
As an audience myself, I rather like when good characters stick to their morals, unless there's a compelling story-based reason to push them over the edge. What-ifs are what the fanfics are for.
"You see, it turns out, Bob's a bit of a communist."
So are we talking like Red Scare? Or sometime after that? I guess it doesn't matter since it's the past.
The guy's reaction to the lavender taffy is exactly my reaction to the one time I tried vodka. Right down to spitting it out.
The morbid humor of carrying a disembodied head by the hair while chill music plays. Which is somehow less jarring than the branded box of deviled eggs Lucy is just carrying around. I am concerned by "pure dried whole". Was this meant to be astronaut food?
That is a very fake disembodied head. Thankfully.
Maximus had better hope there's not a tracker on that armor. Oh hey, salvagers found it first.
Judging by the almost immediate arrival of the Brotherhood, there is in fact a tracker in that armor.
What the heck kind of animal was that? Looked like a mutant axolotl (a gulper, apparently. That has never told me so much and yet so little).
I was gonna say Maximus is having too much fun bullying this guy, but the word "bully" made me realize, I think this is one of Maximus' bullies. So he's not just being a jerk for the heck of it (I swear, being faceblind is like being asked to solve a mystery every time a minor character shows up).
"..."
"Do you think this was him?"
"Hard to tell. Show me the illustration."
Hmm, yes. Identification of a headless corpse using a portrait.
I wonder if Lucy's Geiger counter is going off because of the Ghoul or the gulper. Probably both.
OKAY, yup, mutant axolotl.
And the bully feels bad. Maybe Maximus will lay off on him a bit.
Oh hey, Lucy's partner is alive! And she is encouraging Norm to commit murder.
I think the bully's about to be axolotl food (okay, very nearly, but not quite. He is so lucky that thing didn't have teeth).
Okay, so the bully said ghouls are radioactive, and they were tracking the Ghoul via a Geiger counter. But Lucy's counter specifically does not go off around the Ghoul, because now it's going off randomly. Which is a bad thing for them, no doubt, but it also calls into question whether the bully was working with accurate information. Interesting. Or a plot hole.
With the black and white TVs, Bob getting fired for allegations of communism, and the nuclear threat, I am dating the past as between 1945 and 1965.
Episode 4.
Oh, a clinic. Nothing bad ever happens in clinics and hospitals.
Oh, a ghoul. This one's in a bit rougher shape than the Ghoul. Oh, he's dead now. Just gonna minimize the window for this bit.
Okay, so Lucy's mother died in the Great Plague of '77. That would be 2177, so take off 219 years and... That narrows the past down to between 1958 and 1965.
The would-be overseers are having an election. Probably the most toothless election ever, the way they're complimenting each other's posters.
Okay, it's the water that's setting off the Geiger counter. Kind of annoying how it just randomly stops clicking when she gets close to it.
I have a name for the blond now! You are Steph. And you are. Trying to replace your late husband with the former gatekeeper. And that is going exactly where I thought it was going to go, okay.
So what I am getting from this scene is that one: when Steph told Lucy she was looking forward to raising their kids together, she meant "our separate kids whom we had separately because we're both married to different people". No idea how I misinterpreted that. The other thing I'm getting from this scene is that Steph wanted this guy, not her late husband. Entirely possible I'm misinterpreting that too.
And now there is a robot. And it has a caduceus painted on it. Who is making medical robots in this wasteland.
"I am simply going to harvest your organs."
Me, out loud: "Oh."
Honestly, that tracks. Makes more sense than a random benign medical robot.
Returning to Vault 32. This is fine. Not like there were bodies there that looked like they'd been dead for a while or anything.
Why is this TV also in black and white? You're telling me they have fancy wrist-worn computers and whatever technology goes into keeping the Vaults habitable, and no one in 200 years has had the free time and gumption to modernize TVs even slightly?
And also I guess the mice are relevant or something. Did everyone in Vault 32 kill each other?
And another black and white TV. I have never seen something so sleek and futuristic, yet so stuck in the past.
Not how defibrillators usually save lives, but that certainly works.
"Oh gosh."
That's one way to react to realizing you just set loose a bunch of hungry ghouls. And that you're on the menu.
And They All Died. For real this time.
(Norm's mother died in 2177 and I'm thinking this new information means she opened Vault 32's door at least two years ago? So current year is estimated at 2179 and the past is between 1960 and 1965).
"Golden rule, motherfucker."
I think that's the first time I've heard Lucy swear properly, and the timing could not have been better.
This ancient video tape has me wondering if the TVs are actually black and white, or if it's just that everything available to be played on them was filmed in black and white.
On double-checking episode 1, the black and white TV in the past was pretty much the same design, but a different model, and probably a different brand. The one in the present and the one in Vault 32 were the same model and brand. Given that the Vaults should not have technology from the same source as the surface unless said technology predates the end of the world, either people are keeping ancient relics fully functional in all their black and white glory, or someone from the surface left that TV in Vault 32 on purpose.
Either way, this world's television truly did not advance beyond black and white. Fascinating.
Wonder what Maximus is up to. No sign of him in this episode.
What kind of voice do you think fem!Vox would have?
Funny you should ask! I already have a voice picked out.
(Video contains major spoilers for My Little Pony: The Movie. There are two characters in the scene, but it's gonna be pretty obvious which one I'm talking about even if you haven't seen MLP, lol).
I had a hard time choosing because the singing voice was an important consideration, and I couldn't find one that was powerful enough on the low notes for my liking. But as it so happened, I already associate Vox and Tempest because she's the first one I think of whenever I say he's not a stereotypical "friends are a weakness" villain. So it eventually occurred to me to revisit this song, and before the first chorus it was like, yup, that's the one.
I think one of my least favorite Vox interpretation is: Vox has a race fetish u_u
I would agree with that. It doesn't bother me as much as some, but that might be because my least favorites are the ones I can't escape, and I don't see the fetishization one very often. At least not in fics.
Because of you, I headcanon Vox and Val and the three Vees doing Guillermo Del Toro movies marathons XD
I will gladly take credit for that, lol. I'm only personally familiar with The Shape of Water because I was introduced through the book first, but I remember seeing the trailer for Pinocchio and thinking it looked interesting. Based on what I've seen of his style (and his approach to monsters and horror), I could see them having a good time with his stuff. Plus, he apparently prefers practical special effects over digital ones, and I feel like Vox especially would enjoy that (Vox might be all about technology, but he keeps books in his room and draws on paper. I like to imagine he appreciates practical effects in movies).
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Today on touching media I know nothing about, a non-post-apocalyptic setting fan watches Fallout (only the first two episodes, because these are an hour long each).
Episode 1.
Oh good, the president of the USA is missing. Starting out strong.
I got distracted by the horse's name being Sugarfoot and had to back up twenty seconds to catch the conversation. Starting out strong.
Yes, put the kids in front of the TV so they can watch the apocalypse happen in real time. The Challenger all over again (actually, the TV is black and white, what year is this? Has the Challenger happened yet?)
That. Was a white flash. That. Was a nuclear bomb. That. Is a mushroom cloud. And that is the shockwave.
That. Is a lot of bombs.
(Chocolate break while my heartrate returns to normal. Also, the Challenger happened in 1986, so TV was in color by then).
Oh, 219 years later, we don't care if any of those people survived, okay then. Hi Lucy.
"My reproductive organs are intact."
I'm sorry, what. Why is that relevant.
Why does this look like a wedding. Did I miss something? (On backing up, I may have missed something. Is this "try and yield" thing a breeding thing? Is that why the organs are relevant?)
Aww, they're partners. That's sweet. I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen to the blond.
This is the most ominous wedding I have ever seen. This feels like people are going to be murdered.
"In exchange, we offer you a breeder."
You know, I was being facetious about the breeding thing.
"Do you have a name?"
Why is that how you worded that?
"So what's your sperm count?"
Holy dehumanization. Wow.
I know that's a grain silo behind the guy talking, but it looks very penile (oh, the guy talking is Lucy's father. Okay then).
Ominous glimpse of tunnels for no apparent reason. I'm sure that's fine.
Should I be concerned about those scars on Monty's back? They don't look random.
Oh. That's a body. I think I should be concerned about Monty's scars (does Fallout have zombies? Or I guess they'd probably be mutants because of the radiation. I know nothing).
I know nothing except that Monty has a lot of scars that look kinda less like scars and more like healing wounds, and I am Concerned (oh hey, I know that clicking sound! That's a Geiger counter. And Monty is setting it off. He is radioactive. And a bad guy, apparently).
We are hitting people in the face with glass now, so I'm going to stop looking at the screen (I don't even have to look to know she just pulled out the knife, you don't do that. Was basic first aid not among the many things you learned? Never mind, this is their first aid, this is the future and it's based on a video game, they have healing items).
Something bad happened to the blond. I'm just gonna. Look away for a minute. Again.
And They're All Dead. Probably. Maybe they got far enough away from the bomb in time (I should probably know some names by now, but I literally only know Lucy. And Monty, but he's no longer with us).
And now we have a different group of people whose names I will not learn and who have a high chance of dying in the next 20 minutes. Hi Maximus (it's going to be hilarious if I only learn the names that get presented to me on title cards).
High-tech steampunk airship, nice. I keep forgetting this is the future.
I'm sure nothing bad is going to happen to Maximus' friend.
What the holy fuck happened to that guy's foot? I think that was Maximus' friend, but you know what, I'm not going back to check! No thank you!
Oh, some of Lucy's people are alive. I can't tell if her partner is one of them.
Hey, I have learned some names! Norm is Lucy's brother, and the other guy is... Chet? Chad? Soon to be deceased? Maybe he's just not relevant.
That. Is a skull. And those are bones. And petrified bodies, presumably.
Okay, so that was Maximus' friend whose foot was. Injured. Can't decide if Maximus actually did it or not. Feels like I'm supposed to think he did it.
Oh hey, I know who this guy is (I have absolutely no idea who this guy is, I've just seen pictures of him floating around. Maybe he's the guy from the prologue. For now, I guess he's just "the Ghoul". Not gonna be hard to remember that).
Episode 2.
I am going to pretend I never saw that.
Four minutes of relatively peaceful screentime devoted to raising this dog. Four minutes. I have only seen one episode and I'm already mistrustful of such a long period without Horrors (ah, there we go).
Oh wait. Maximus was sent after a guy with a canine companion. I guess this is the guy.
I have never thought about what a tumbleweed must look like to someone who's lived in an artificial environment their whole life. Even the plants have dead roaming around.
I hate the way the jaunty tune fades into an ominous rumble and then casually returns to being jaunty. And that is a compliment, because It is deeply unsettling.
I. Hate. That. Cockroach. That is not a compliment.
Of all the things to survive two hundred years into the future. It's Spam. That checks out.
How did Maximus and the Knight just happen to end up this close to their target when they were meant to search somewhere else? I think I missed something again.
This Knight has no self-preservation instinct. Dead because he couldn't keep his mouth shut for five minutes.
"Had an aunt as well, she got killed there once."
Oh, well, as long as it was only once.
Are there any decent humans in this world. Why does everyone just hate everyone. How does humanity last 200 years without cooperation. Why do post-apocalyptic worlds always do this.
How does the doctor know so much about the Vaults? Did that chip he injected into his neck give him mind reading abilities or something? (I guess we're never gonna know, my money's on him dying in the next five minutes. Who gave the Ghoul explosive bullets).
Oh good, we've got all the main characters in one place. And the doctor survived past the five minute mark.
"This could maybe work."
"Do you really mean that?"
I don't think she does.
The doctor survived a whole ten minutes longer than I expected. Still not gonna find out how he knows any of what he knows, though. Not from him, anyway. I wonder what the next episode is called.
just because you mentioned the weight thing again, i'm curious what you think about how many redesigns are floating around where people make specifically Vox fat/fatter out of all the characters. that's always been so fascinating to me. imo it's the sleazy business man stereotype seeping in and clouding how people see his character and it kind of amazes me with how much it contradicts his canon character. i get wanting more variety in body types in the show, but Vox is probably one of the last people i'd do that with (alongside the other Vees for sure)
i think you pointed out before how the artstyle conveys skinny, even when everyone has small waists, but even visuals aside. he's not a typical desk ceo, he's the front facing man of voxtek. he's constantly on air, he's the face. Vox not caring about being appealing to the general public is as crazy imo as hcing Angel as not caring. they're different kinds of actors, but they're part of the same company and environment
and that's not even mentioning how Vel is openly promoting toxic diet culture in advertisements, or how Val talks about his actors/dancers (or the eating disorder Val has lets be fr)
so whenever i see someone keeping all the characters weights the same and then making Vox heaver i always end up feeling like the artist hasn't actually given his character any thought. they just see evil ceo and immediately roll out the fat stereotype
Because there is a lot of discourse in art communities about the "right" way to redesign characters, I just want to preface this by saying I take a "you do you" mentality with most redesigns. Some artists want their designs to reflect the character's personality, others prioritize a story or environment, and some just want to draw what appeals to them (some do all of the above, because they all have value). It's rather elitist to argue that you have to do it a certain way or it's a bad redesign, and I'm not into gatekeeping fun or self-expression.
To me, the actual choices made by the artist are more important than their design philosophy. Because no matter how you approach your redesigns, you can fall into stereotypes.
So with that being said, if a personality-focused artist redesigns a large cast of characters and only makes one of them heavier than they are in canon, I am going to question which traits they are associating with fatness (especially if they're also making some characters thinner than they are canonically). If a context-focused artist does it, I am going to question a design that doesn't make sense for the character's circumstances. And if an aesthetics-focused artist does it, I'm probably going to assume they find fatness ugly (again, especially if they're also making characters they like thinner).
(It should go without saying that any body type can have any personality trait. Unfortunately, many fatphobic stereotypes necessitate that it be said, so there you go).
With Vox specifically, looking at his overall character, I feel like he would have a very complicated relationship with his weight. On one hand, he lived through the Great Depression, and his concern over Valentino not eating shows he knows there's a point where health should come first. He also freely admits to wanting greasy food in the drawing video, so it doesn't seem like he has negative associations with certain foods (or he just doesn't care if something is "unhealthy").
On the other hand, he is in an environment that promotes disordered eating, he is one of only two characters so far depicted as underweight, his partner openly judges him for what he eats, and they're implied to fight about food being "good" or "bad" (Val: "[Sodas] are bad for you." Vox: "Val, I'm not fighting with you."). Said partner also makes a point of mentioning (albeit not to his face) that Vox doesn't meet his normal aesthetic standards for a sexual partner. During a scathing anecdote about a "fat bisexual". I mean...
Valentino might care about Vox, but he is not going to accept a heavier partner, and it would probably be a dealbreaker for him. And given Vox's assorted issues with abandonment and public image, that is not a fight he would put effort into winning. Maybe he won't let Val control what he eats, but if Val pesters him enough about his weight, he's going to lose some weight. That's like. Barely subtext to me.
(I actually got a question on my post about Vox's weight asking if Val prefers skinny partners. At the time I didn't remember him expressing a body type preference for men since we mostly see him hitting on women, but having since revisited the drawing video: He absolutely does. And there is a high likelihood that he contributes to whatever issues Vox has with his own weight).
Applying all of this to redesigns, if it's just an artist who wants to draw their favorite character a certain way, or they're redesigning the entire cast based on what they find aesthetically pleasing and all of them have different body types, I'm just gonna leave them to it. Not every redesign has to make sense based on canon.
If the artist intends for it to make sense, however, I do not think Vox is the right character to depict that way. Even if he had a naturally heavy build, and even if he was comfortable at that weight, he'd be doing everything in his power to stay as small as possible, because his environment, his public image, and his partner demand it. You have to pretty much change the entire context he exists in for it to make sense (which, in fairness, might actually be the case in some AUs).
(Fun fact, I almost changed up the vest on my fem!Vox design, because I feel like seeing Valentino with "more attractive" women all the time would bother her more than it does her canon counterpart, and horizontal stripes supposedly make people look wider. Turns out that's a myth and they actually create the opposite illusion, which is exactly what I wanted. So I kept them).
@static-alice-sideblog I was going to reply to this directly, but I hit the character limit. And I have no shame, so I'm just gonna make the true depths of my hyperfixation everyone's problem.
So I have actually done a lot of math regarding Vox's energy needs! Because I wanted to know if his having a TV for a head would mean he needs more or less food (I don't remember what led me down that rabbit hole, but it was probably something to do with sharks and endothermy). And I will freely admit that all of that math could be wrong, because electricity is measured in several different ways and there is no "converting calories to electrical energy made simple" guide, so I'm never sure if I'm converting the right numbers.
I definitely believe that Vox has higher overall caloric needs, because as far as I can determine, a small LED TV would use (very) approximately 1000 calories a day (presumably he uses less energy while sleeping, so more exact numbers would depend on average amount of sleep per night and the actual dimensions of his screen). So that's 2-4 times what an organic brain would use per day, and if we assume his head uses proportionately the same amount of energy compared to his body as a human brain does, that gives us 4-5000 calories a day (given he's around 7 feet tall and active, that's plausible as an estimate. Maybe a little low, but comparable to a professional basketball player).
I have absolutely no idea how to calculate "energy required to convert a physical form into electricity", but since he's just changing forms, not expelling energy, I would assume it doesn't take a whole lot out of him. Moving around that way might, but I'm not sure how to calculate that either. Though considering the whole point of an electrical grid is to move electricity around, he probably expends more energy on his little jumps through open air than he does on long-distance travel.
If I'm converting the right numbers, it actually seems like day to day use of his powers would take a negligible amount of energy; the electricity needed to kill a human would only be a few calories per second, and even if we assume a Sinner can handle far more than a human, Vox isn't usually aiming to kill anyway (at least not through electrocution alone). And his electrical displays are presumably more flashy than dangerous, because it would be a waste of energy if he was putting too much real power into them.
He almost certainly has pretty high caloric needs, but as far as I can determine, those needs are going to be a result of his size, activity level, and having a TV for a head, not his powers. And considering almost every demon in the crowd during VOX POPULI is his size or larger, I would guess his needs are only high by human standards, and closer to the low end of average for a Sinner.
But even if his powers did require a substantial amount of energy, all of this is probably irrelevant! Because the magic system in Hazbin does not seem to be "physical energy = magical energy". At very least, that isn't the case for angels, because Adam and Lucifer have no trouble channeling very high amounts of energy. One could argue Sinners do use that system, and that's why the average Sinner doesn't have much power to speak of, but Overlords explicitly derive power from others. So it would make far more sense if Vox was paying the energy cost of his powers with his owned souls and whatever bonus he's getting from his approval ratings, not his own body.
why do you think so many sinners change their names in Hell? I think that the writers mentioned that it's because they don't want association with their human lives (don't quote me on this though, it's one of those things that was Possibly Said In A Stream At Some Point). But even so, shouldn't there be a lot more sinners who don't care about changing their names? i think the only sinner we've seen who kept their old name is Alastor.
Furthermore, wouldn't popular/well-known figures like Velvette or Vox be recognized (particularly ones like Velvette, since she looks really human)? And since they're so recognizable, what would be even the point in trying to move on from their human lives if there will always be some obnoxious sinner calling them by their old names who either doesn't know or doesn't care about Hell Culture™️? it just seems very inconvenient especially if you were well-known in life, so what would make changing names worth the trouble?
and what about Vox specifically? I imagine that after his whole "dying in an abandoned aquarium with a bunch of his followers" thing would make headlines in the living world, and if he wasn't known throughout the entire country already, he probably would be just because of all the sudden deaths. Either way, I'm sure the average person who lived after the 50s would be aware of his existence, even if they've never seen his programs. How much do you think all the possible in-universe controversy surrounding Vox & the cult's deaths would affect Vox's reputation in Hell? Like, even if you ignore the whole "pointing the camera at morbid shit" thing that seems to have been a major aspect of Vox's shows which I doubt was appreciated by all the viewers, the deaths themselves would definitely be controversial, since it'd probably be hard to tell if they were deliberate mass-suicide or not. Due to this, there's probably plenty of recently-fallen sinners that would be pretty wary of Vox once they realize that he's the Vincent Whittman.
(sorry this got so long and kinda drifted off-topic, there's just so many unanswered questions about sinners' relations with their human lives and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it! No pressure if you're not too interested in all the details tho haha)
I mean. If I could go by Dark Star IRL, I would do it without a second thought, lol. Anytime someone refers to me by some variation of my username, I am happy. Like, that's me they're talking about. That is My Name. I chose it myself.
Anytime someone refers to me by my legal name IRL, I feel like someone just walked across my grave. Never found a different human name I would be comfortable going by, either (I did know someone a few years back who called me Cat, and that didn't bother me. But that's like, a pet name vs a legal name).
I would guess for a lot of Sinners, it's something like that. They didn't like their human names, or they didn't mind but always liked something else better, and given the opportunity to go by something different, they took it. It's not like they need to go through some bureaucratic process to change it, so it's no more troublesome than introducing themselves with their preferred name.
As a cultural thing, these are human souls raised with human beliefs, so I like to headcanon that it originated from attempts to protect their souls from Overlords. In some cultures, folklore warns against giving your true name to supernatural beings because it gives them power over you. I would imagine for a lot of people raised in those cultures, arriving in Hell with beings who could literally own their souls pushed them to embrace the protective measures they were taught, even if they didn't believe such things in life, simply because they didn't know what else to do. So they started going by aliases and warning others to do the same, and it just kind of stuck as a cultural thing because people liked being free to change their names if they wanted to.
(I also like to headcanon that soul deals do, in fact, require a Sinner's human name to be valid, whether signed or given verbally. Alastor's deal with Rosie makes me doubt canon does it that way, but I like the idea that selling one's literal soul takes a little more than just shaking hands).
As for being recognized: when a Sinner arrives in Hell, they are arriving to a world where almost everyone died long before they were even born, never mind famous. And for the majority of human history, even the most famous people would only be known by those who lived in their general geographical location. So Sinner culture would have developed under circumstances where an individual was statistically unlikely to ever knowingly meet anyone who'd so much as heard of them in life. They could have absolutely abandoned their human lives entirely if they wanted to. And even with the internet, there are billions of people on this planet, and the average person is only known in their communities. It's a very tiny minority who would be recognized, even if they wanted to be.
For Vox, no matter the impact his life and death had on the living world, basically no one in Hell would have ever heard of Vincent Whittman when he arrived, and everyone would have been far more interested in what he was than who he was (basically no one in Hell would have known what a TV was either, at that point). We don't know when he changed his name, but we do know it was within a few years of arriving, because Alastor calls him Vox in the bar flashback (I think there's official merch that says VoxTek was founded in 1952, so it might have been within a few months of arriving. Or weeks. Or immediately after he learned a new name was an option).
And to most newly arrived Sinners (who would not have ever heard of Vincent Whittman, because the average person is neither US American nor a television historian), Vox is all he'd be. There would be people over the years who had heard of him and knew how he died, and they'd be able to figure out from the "Trust us" motto that the TV-headed guy who'd been around since the 50s and ran a tech/entertainment business was the same person. But Vox had not only made a name for himself within a few years of arriving, he and Alastor (who intentionally cultivated a fearsome reputation for himself) were a publicly known and loved duo before their falling out.
If Vox could get people loving one of the most terrifying Overlords, he would have had no trouble whatsoever winning over anyone who knew who he'd been in life. Hell is full of scary, dangerous people, and he was way less scary than his peers (or way more scary, depending on how you look at it. Considering the kind of influence he wielded). And even if there were a few holdouts, they wouldn't have been enough to sway public opinion.
Plus, y'know. Hypnosis. I don't think he uses it nearly as often as some fans assume, because he wouldn't be fussing at the other Vees about their public image if he was using it to maintain their reputation (and they never point out that he could do that, either, which suggests that he doesn't), but it is a tool in his arsenal. Hard to win a PR campaign against someone who can manipulate opinions with a couple seconds of eye contact through a screen.
The absolute funniest thing to me about autistic!Vox headcanons is that when I first saw them, I thought people were focusing too much on the sharks. Like, okay, he likes sharks. But if you’d asked me then, I’d have said he was one of the most obviously neurotypical characters in the show.
Then it occurred to me that standing on furniture is. Not really neurotypical behavior. So I went back with a fresh perspective and you know what, he definitely has a few quirks that stood out from the rest of the cast. Time to start looking for patterns.
Yeah, so turns out, he’s one of the most obviously neurodivergent characters in the show. And I have no explanation for how I drew exactly the opposite conclusion beyond my brain going, “this is all perfectly normal behavior and requires no further thought”. Except I myself am AuDHD, so if my brain is glossing over a character as “normal”, that’s. Probably an indicator that they’re not neurotypical. So.
Anyway, I have never seen a single post where anyone goes into any detail about his autistic traits, so I’m going to do that now! You’re welcome.
Let’s start with the sensory processing differences, because I’ve already waxed poetic about Vox being a tactile seeker. The really short version is that he touches everything he can get his hands on, up to and including people, because his nervous system needs more tactile input to be satisfied.
He’s also a vestibular seeker, which refers to movement that engages his sense of balance and spacial awareness. He spins, he jumps, he climbs (or jumps) onto furniture, and sometimes he does things like walk sideways and hop backwards - up stairs. “Standing” with his wires also counts, since the addition of vertical movement gives the vestibular system more to process. Regardless of what he’s doing, he never seems to get dizzy, which is typical of vestibular seekers.
On the other side of the coin we have sensory aversions, which Vox doesn’t explicitly demonstrate. But the rooms where he spends most of his time are markedly different from the rest of Vee Tower: big open spaces with low lighting and cool colors, or else random grids of solid red or blue-white panels. There’s no clutter, minimal decoration, and most of the rooms have aquarium glass instead of windows.
He’s not avoiding visual stimuli, by any means, but he does seem to prefer visually quiet environments; not necessarily dark, but with few patterns and little movement apart from whatever he’s focused on. There could be a few reasons for this, but since he doesn’t seem to have a problem with any specific form of visual stimulus, it’s probably more an issue of how much information he can process at one time.
Vox also limits how much visual input he receives during conversations. He's continually turning his back on and moving behind people while he's talking, and when he does face them, his eye contact is sporadic; sometimes it's unrelenting, other times he's glancing away every few words. Conversely, when someone else is speaking, he generally (though not always) turns towards them and makes fairly steady eye contact.
Again, there are a few possible explanations for this. But given that Vox is also someone who talks with his hands (which can help to organize thoughts and maintain fluent speech), and he can make eye contact just fine when he’s not the one speaking, we can actually narrow it down to a likely answer: neurotypical speech simply takes more cognitive resources than he has available.
Talking to people takes a lot of mental coordination. You’re organizing your thoughts, forming them into words, paying attention to the other person's nonverbal language, processing the sensory input from said language, converting that input into meaning, and monitoring your own behavior, and you’re doing it all in real time. And that’s just the act of talking. If you can’t do all of it at once, something has to give, and the only non-essential part of the process is looking at people.
Understanding other peoples’ speech takes a lot of cognitive work too, but it also uses different parts of the brain. So while some autistic people struggle to make eye contact at any point during a conversation, others can do so if they find one skill or the other easier. Rather ironically, Vox appears to have a harder time speaking than listening.
On the topic of nonverbal language, autistic people tend not to use gestures the same way as allistics. Some use fewer, some use more, and they don't always serve a communicative purpose (that is, they aren’t meant to convey information). Vox very much uses more, and while some of them mimic allistic communication, many don't. They might help him communicate (again, talking with his hands), but they’re often meaningless when matched with what he’s actually saying.
Additionally, some autistic gestures are actually stims (aka self-stimulatory behaviors), and Vox seems to have at least a few of those. The most common is pressing his palms together and/or interlacing his fingers, but other repeated movements include waving his hands, moving them in circles, and tapping his fingers. All of these are general-purpose and can occur at any time, though he tends not to use them in front of a crowd.
He also has what appear to be primarily self-soothing behaviors: he spends a lot of time adjusting his lapels or bowtie when he's trying to compose himself, whether because he’s irritated, flustered, or just in an especially good mood. If he's more on edge he might cross his arms instead, or outright hug himself if he's excited, and he does something similar by dejectedly holding one arm when Alastor rejects his offer (crossing one's arms is a common action, but that doesn’t make it any less of a pattern. Especially given how Vox is with touch in general).
When it comes to other people, Vox obviously has issues with appropriate social touch and respecting personal space, which could be attributed to his tactile seeking behaviors. It could also be a sign of low empathy; he likes touch and physical closeness, and either doesn’t realize or doesn’t care that others might not share in that enjoyment (considering his reaction to Alastor calling him out on it, my money is on him not realizing). Either way, he definitely missed the signs that Alastor was merely tolerating it, and he never seems to notice other people reacting when he touches them (though Alastor, specifically, is so theatrical about disliking touch that if Vox had ever seen him physically interact with anyone, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to assume that a lack of such a reaction meant it was fine when he did it).
His attitude towards touch aside, Vox does generally appear to have relatively low emotional empathy. Beyond irritation, he isn't emotionally affected by Velvette's studio being wrecked or Valentino's upset over Angel leaving, and even before Alastor gets into his head, it’s implied that he regularly acts without consideration for either of them (such as leaving Velvette behind when he electroports, which seems to be a common occurrence). And that’s his behavior towards people he likes.
On the other hand, he can understand other people’s thoughts and feelings to some extent, even if he mostly uses that knowledge to hurt and manipulate them. So he is capable of cognitive empathy, and probably pretty good at it; he’s not infallible, especially if he’s not given anything to work with, but he can figure people out.
He also demonstrates compassionate empathy (taking action to help others) on multiple occasions: he answers Velvette's summons despite not wanting to deal with Valentino, pays attention to what Val is saying, and offers him something to make him feel better. He leaves out a pen and paper so Val can draw during the Take Over Heaven presentation and gets all of his requested foods "just in case". He's willing to put himself in harm's way to protect the other two. Even if it’s a matter of practicality from his perspective, it’s still a form of caring, and comes from a place of genuine affection.
That being said, Vox has a friend circle of two. He has gotten close to three people in seventy years (and he's known Valentino for around fifty of those years, so it's not just because Alastor traumatized him). He also has a room dedicated entirely to hiding away from the world with his sharks and watching spying on people through screens instead of talking to anyone.
For all that he loves performing and being the center of attention, he doesn't show much desire for one-on-one social interaction. He certainly wants the option, and does enjoy the company of those he's close to, but he also wants to be left alone. And even when he doesn't want to be alone, spending time with someone doesn't mean interacting with them directly. Sometimes it looks like having tea together while they work on separate tasks.
When he does interact directly with people, whether through desire or necessity, Vox is a "take the topic and run with it at full speed until forced to stop" type of guy. He can literally have entire conversations all by himself: when he calls Charlie to "invite" her to his party, she only speaks when she realizes who's calling and right before he hangs up. In the flashback, Vox does all of the talking for nearly a full minute while Alastor makes two remarks (one of which is permission for Vox to keep going). He can have a proper back and forth exchange, and sometimes even wants to (he's disappointed when Alastor refuses to engage with him after surrendering), but his conversations do tend to be one-sided.
I could keep going (full disclosure: I consider everything I’ve said so far to be a general overview). But this is getting long, so I want to wrap up by saying that fictional characters are not diagnosable. Buuut Vox does legitimately meet the behavioral criteria.
He has difficulties with social-emotional reciprocity (the “back and forth” of social interactions, empathy and emotional responsiveness, approach to communication, etc).
He has differences in nonverbal communication.
He has difficulties with developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships (which includes a lack of interest in doing so).
He has “repetitive or stereotyped movements, use of objects, or speech”, aka stimming.
He has sensory processing differences.
He has “highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus” (I don’t need to get into the sharks. Everybody knows about the sharks).
The first three are all required. The latter three come from a cluster of four traits where only two are required. The only trait out of the seven he hasn’t definitively demonstrated is “insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns”. So like.
As headcanons go, you don’t get much closer to canon. He could literally be diagnosable in-universe.
#the biggest thing i noticed is the overstimulation #and when he gets overstimulated he lashes out impulsively. gets loud. gets violent
#he also has these big emotions. he cries when he's angry and upset #i've never more related to those big emotions and not being able to communicate them productively
#and while i agree that dx'd fictional character is not something i wanna do this headcanon is very dear to me #like finally an adjacent autistic character that i relate with #yeah he's a dead serial killer and capitalist but idk good doctor could never etc etc
!!!!!
@ op (and great tags from prev!!!) i'm so glad you made this post because, ever since someone made a delightful compilation of Vox spinning himself and other people, i've thought a lot about how that could be a helpful+unconscious form of stimulation for him, but i hadn't connected that to neurodivergency.
it was hilarious that the week i saw this post, i'd also just started my own notes of "okay let's just see what evidence there is for Vox being autistic because he seems pretty neurotypical to me. neurotypical people can have a favorite animal and favorite pet, so that can't be the only reason if i'm going to be onboard with this idea."
and then i stopped taking notes because i was like ''oh. okay. never mind'' SFQJBQSKSFQKS
(putting the rest under a cut because i ramble a bit; this was originally in the tags but, with seemingly each day lol, i kept adding more, and then it got concerningly close to the 30 tag maximum, where tumblr just deletes tags without notifying you sfqkkqbqs. so i'm playing it safe and actually putting it in the body of the post. ...OKAY I'M VERY GLAD I MOVED OUT OF THE TAGS LOL)
like you had here, one of the biggest points in my own notes was his limited amount of friends both in life and afterlife, including his original seeming lack of interest in having close connections in the first place (which changed with Alastor and the Vees, even if he still has an extremely limited circle and seems mostly okay or okay-ish with that).
literally in the commentary for s1 ep2, there's a bit where the creators are like ~''he has just two friends and a dog. thing. you'll see in season two.''
just for anyone unaware and to clarify accidental implications the above comments of mine might have: being disinterested in socializing or personal connections is NOT a defining feature of everyone who's autistic. many really want friends and can have lowered self-esteem and other issues if they're unable to form meaningful friendships.
(because i realize the above description may sound detached or unempathetically clinical, i'm talking about my type of autism with this description of autists who "really want friends"; i've been incredibly lucky to find great people who are on or adjacent to the spectrum, making enjoyable connection a lot easier than otherwise.)
it's just important info to be aware of in these discussions that there ARE many autistic individuals who don't have a strong inclination to form friendships and who can be pretty content pursuing their interests on their own.
(here's an article discussing different "types" or presentations of autism, with some discussion on autists who aim for social connections versus those who are fine going through life more solo. the article is mainly about how autism often can present differently between men and women, but it's also about sexism, stereotypes, and unhelpful psychological tradition in diagnosing autism, while discussing alternate ways to describe and recognize it.)
but getting back to the original topic of Vox lol: i also feel as if i should clarify what i mean by socializing and social connections, just in case his being outwardly outgoing and wanting to be a leader and well-known public figure makes the statements in this reblog and the original post seem contradictory. (the original post did a great job, i think, of separating the concepts between crowdwork and one-on-one interactions, but just to be even more clear, to partially make this post into Sort Of Autism 101 With Vox As A Case Study lol)
personal connections are very different from speaking in front of people. you might be familiar with the idea of feeling alone even though you interact with many people or are surrounded by people. it's a concept adjacent to that: do you have connections of personal value, or are you keeping everyone at a distance?
plus, being able to speak in front of an audience or give a presentation is a different skill than holding a one-on-one interaction. for the former, you control everything (in most cases) and memorizing what you want to say can often even be an asset rather being seen as unnatural or a hindrance. with the latter -- personal conversations -- you need to constantly take in new information and adjust. these ways of connecting with people are two different skills, and two very different interests. (Vox seems good at both of these, but, from his having only two friends, he doesn't seem to usually connect with people outside of "business only" interactions.")
basically, the point of the last section is to explain "being charismatic and good at reading people is not the same as being extraverted or a social person." Vox uses his ability to speak to crowds and read people to advance his goals, but spending time in settings intended for socializing -- like clubs or other gathering places -- doesn't seem to be a preference for his free time.
to switch topics again, my one disagreement on the original post could be about Vox's pacifying behaviors. i suppose it can be a thing of degree and frequency like much about autism and neurodivergency in general, but neurotypicals use a lot of pacifying behaviors too.
i'm not an expert on this, so idk the difference in degree and frequency (just iirc that frequent self-harming pacifying behaviors increase the odds that someone may be ND, especially if the behaviors aren't intended as self-harm. but again -- i'm not an expert), but ye, in regards to that being an indicator of autism, that's my one objection (that i might change my mind about) on this awesome post 🙌
You are correct! Everyone self-soothes, and the (visible) difference between autistic and neurotypical people is largely one of frequency and intensity. There is also an internal difference in that neurotypical self-soothing is usually about cognitive/emotional regulation, and is most common while relaxing or dealing with something stressful. Autistic people also self-sooth as emotional regulation, but it can be caused by both negative and positive experiences ("happy stimming"), and is also common with sensory overwhelm or understimulation (which is why NT self-soothing strategies don't always work for autistic people. Mindfulness does not help me when the source of the problem is sensory, it just makes me want to crawl out of my skin).
I do question whether self-harmful soothing is, in fact, more common in neurodivergent populations, or if neurotypical self-harmful behaviors are just more subtle and normalized. I can't find any statistics for the prevalence of self-harmful stims in autism, but for nail biting I'm seeing estimates of 20-30% of the general population. And I would consider that a self-harmful stress response.
Anyway, you are open to changing your mind about Vox's self-soothing being autistic in nature, so allow me to try and change it!
All of my observations about his behavior in this post were made while comparing him to other characters (yes, that means I spent many scenes just watching how much eye contact they were making during conversations). The specific behaviors I listed as self-soothing were ones I noticed occurring entirely in an emotional context, as a normal thing, with a clear sensory component, and rarely exhibited by other characters in similar situations.
For example, several characters hug themselves when they're upset, but not usually when they're excited. Not only does Vox frequently hug/hold himself when he's excited, this is a form of deep pressure stimulation, which actively influences the nervous system to shift the body into a more relaxed state. In other words, self-soothing.
I also included fussing with his bowtie and lapels as a self-soothing behavior because, unlike some generalized stims like tapping his fingers, he seems to do it specifically when he's emotionally off-kilter. And more specifically, when he's trying to push aside or rein in some emotion (including one instance where Alastor is goading him, and he visibly stops, takes a breath, and sits down while adjusting his tie. A clear moment of intentional self-soothing).
And the reason I classify it as a possible sign of autism: where other characters typically only exhibit self-soothing behaviors when they're distressed (or really excited, in Charlie's case), he is doing it constantly. Irritated? Gleeful? Flustered? Doesn't matter what or how intense the emotion is, if he needs to settle down or stay focused (in other words, if he needs to emotionally regulate), his hands are on his clothes.
In short, as compared to those around him, Vox exhibits both visible self-soothing behaviors under circumstances where others don't need them, and a specific behavior that occurs both more frequently and in a wider range of situations than specific behaviors demonstrated by others (Alastor pulling on his hair and Angel hugging himself are both specific and repeated behaviors, but limited to moments of distress).
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Fallout 4 is the one with the best environment and gameplay, as well as arguably the very best Companion in the franchise (Nick Valentine, the Synth Detective). However, its writing is criticised for being more toothless than previous entries, because it introduces powerful moral queries and then ignores them.
Fallout New Vegas has by far the best writing, with actually thoughtful quests and some of the most iconic dialogue ever seen in videogames (you know the "I survived because the fire etc etc" quote? Yeah, it's from New Vegas). However, it's plagued by a ton of technical issues which can make the gameplay a pain in the ass. Also the environment sucks, 90% of everything is brown.
Fallout 3 is the one with the best atmosphere. The writing is nowhere near as good as new vegas, and the gameplay is nowhere near as good as 4, but it does an excellent job introducing people to the world of Fallout and really making you feel that post-Apocalyptic vibes. However, it's essential that you get the Game Of The Year edition, because its DLC fixed the stupidest ending I've ever seen and made it good. Also this is the only modern Fallout game where the Companions are not immortal, so take five minutes to download a mod to keep them safe.
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I don't know if this happens to you too but every so often I see a post that's like "well I don't read fanfiction for it to be like canon" and like honestly I don't get it, you liked a story and its characters and it's setting etc. etc. and then you go read fanfiction of those characters in that universe hoping that they're... different characters in a different universe???? Like I must be missing something here
I mean, if you want to get technical, shipfic with non-canon pairings is "not like canon". Keeping a dead character alive or killing off a different one in their place is "not like canon". Redeeming a character who was exclusively evil in the source material is "not like canon". And that's not even counting popular AU settings (high school, coffee shop, human, omegaverse, etc).
If they're actively hoping the characters are completely different people, I would be a bit confused, because at that point it's like. Why are you reading about these specific characters if they aren't those characters anymore? But generally speaking, I would guess what those readers actually mean is that they prefer exploring AUs and what-ifs over reading something that feels like it could be a continuation of or addition to canon.
Or they liked the characters but not the story. I have definitely been in that position.
You guys ever play a RPG like Fallout, where you are supposed to roleplay your Main Character through the story to its conclusion?
Let's say that there is a character in the game who, for trivial and petty reasons, annoys the shit out of you. Let's say you still intellectually recognise that this character has narrative weight, and that it wouldn't fit your MC's crafted personality to murder them.
So you make a quick save. Then you proceed to paint the walls with their blood. Then you load the save and keep playing the story where Annoying Asshole is still alive.
You get what I mean?
Canon must retain coherent plot points and consistent characterisation and thematic narrative for it to be good. The same way the actual story in the game can't have your MC, whom you have been roleplaying as Good Person, shoot someone in the dick because he was annoying.
But you can do whatever you want in a scenario that you are going to erase with a reload. And you can do whatever you want in a fanfiction.
And yeah, having the characters "do whatever you want" in the fanfiction does mean that they are acting in ways they wouldn't in canon. But it's not meant to be OOC, so much as an exaggeration of their original traits for the sake of satisfaction.
Hello hi! If I may add my two cents to the weight thing. I do agree with everything said about canon vox.
The environment he's in just wouldn't allow it and I do think some people use the "evil ceo" shortcut, especially when it comes to the "redesigns" made by people who don't even like the show and think they can make the designs "better" by i dunno making vox fat and throwing old clothes on him cuz he's "from the 50s" completely misunderstanding his character
However, to me there's smth very special about taking someone as energetic as vox, making him/her (don't ask) fat and keeping the energy, keeping the dancing and the jumping on furniture and whatnot. I don't think many people do that which is a shame :/. Quite often I see an AU with a fat vox with him mellowed out and just not as enthusiastic and something about that irks me a bit.
Vox is a creature that needs to keep moving to live to me and no matter how convoluted the AU gets I need that to be consistent at the very least.
That is an excellent point, and one I would count under "redesigning based on what appeals to the artist". It might not make sense in canon, but! It is fun. And sometimes that's the only thing that matters.
I also fully agree on keeping Vox active no matter what his body type is. I ultimately didn't comment on that because fanon in general tends to make him way less energetic than in canon, and I didn't want to imply that it was just a fatphobia thing. Buuuut it is fatphobic to say that fat people can't be active, or that they're all lazy and clumsy (Vox seems capable of dancing at a professional level, and he does a lot of jumping and spinning. He's going to retain that spatial awareness and skill at any weight, methinks).
