Kat/Earth

Ok so first of all I think that Alice and Bendy are debt collectors for The Devil

Taking into consideration that King Dice has said that The devil has some "mighty-fine show ponies" when all his other attempts failed (I mean cmon srsly ur j sending two-pointed gnomes to a gun show... What did we think was gonna happen?? 😭)

Why do they owe their soul though? I got two possibilities: 1. They joined King Dice's lil gameshow and won leading their souls to be in possession of the devil or 2. They needed funds for their show and took a risk with the casino

I do believe that they do actually love dancing and singing; it's not j a means to manipulate people. I mean look at these whimsical and joyous faces

Seeming as they know how to showbiz (lmao get it? get it- 💥💥💥) and act they can clearly allure people who may owe their souls to the devil and snatch em from there without ever having to fight or get their hands dirty!

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And now moving on to the animatic!

Yes I'm aware that the song is from another series BUT THATS NOT THE POINT HERE (lemme be delusional)

Now the song itself Last Call i'd like to think is a nod to the fact that this may be the Devil's only other attempt at actually getting Cuphead's soul since... The trio has basically fucked Any Other Method thus far (since this is following the game from what I've seen) so if this method also fails, well he's gonna have to go back to sending imps again that has been proven to fail time after time no matter the numbers

"Let's have some fun boys! There's no where to run huh!" Remember how in my last SBAS analysis I said they probably like to play with their targets? Yeah that lmao. I SAW THE SMILES ON THEIR FACES DURING THE INSTURMENTAL OF THE SONG THEY KNOW THEY GOTTEM

That is absolutely a knowing Smug Look™️ and you cannot tell me otherwise

Also a bit of a tiny tidbit here that I rlly find funny

"So try a highball, a corpse reviver" this is j a fucking TEASE at this point LMAOOO to me it's saying "try to revive dumbass"

"We're gonna dance 'til the break of dawn" now IF my previous theory was correct (that they owe their soul) then they're probably not gonna give up, (never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never go-💥💥💥) and well as the lyrics state, they won't stop until they get their goal. This may be their last job to being free since The Devil is just ABSOLUTELY FED UP with The Trio. Which would add to their motivation to snatching his soul and as well as heighten the stakes!

"Pour one less cocktail, a Mary Pickford | Top me off, boy, 'cause I want it all" now I don't unfortunately have anything for this AHSHAHAHHA I'm drawing a complete blank. So if y'all have any thoughts I'd be happy to hear em!

"My days were gloomy and sad, 'til you came to me With a Southside and flowers in hand" MMMMM MY FAVOURITE ONE TO THINK OF. Having your soul owned? The thing you loved doing being used to own other souls? Not funnnn~~

Now Southside cocktail has a rather refreshing taste which is the exact opposite of the first line. They are literally giving them their refreshing taste of freedom IF their souls are captured + this also being their "Last Call" to being free

"Oh baby, let's drown our blues, dance the sun away" NOW THIS IS HOW I THINK ALICE IS GONNA GET TO MUGMAN. Think abt it! He's extremely paranoid and he's always getting attacked by imps and there's also the stress of having to find out how make Chalice corpeal! And then there's NOW having to work with Saltbaker. There's always something in his mind that isn't always good. Alice becomes HIS Southside cocktail instead! Giving him the joy and whimsy of singing and dancing I'm so fucking jealous of this stupid lil ceramic GETTTTT OOOUUUTTTT MUGMAN.

"There's no tomorrow, let's live for today" well I mean I think we know the implication on this one. But I think I have another: this gives a sense of urgency to try to fit everything into one time! Not wanting to leave anything for later-- there's stress in it, a push that might make Mugman take that one wrong step

Annnddd i think that's all I have for this one! Yeah there's more lyrics at the end

"It's time for last call (last call) / It's time for last call (last call) / We've had our fun, boys / Let's pack up and run, hon / But drink another / Yeah, honey, one more / Before we go out, play one last song / It's time for last call / It's time for last call / Before the night's done / Play one last song"

But all I can really say to this one is the Darling Duo's-- and Boris' ofc, supposed happy ending they want. It comes right after their Smug Look™️ and Alice sounds REALLY powerful atp

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Am I a complete overanalyzing idiot who is absolutely wrong? Maybe.

Or am I actually a genius who's niche has been directed to indie comics on the internet? Maybe.

Of course we must start at the very beginning!

I absolutely adore how they were introduced, it didn't take long and we got a bunch of their personalities already!

Cuphead betting on his skills, being somewhat cocky with his achievement (as he should), being an extremely caring person (shown with how willing he was to meet w/ Saltbaker for chalice and him throwing himself in front of Mugman during attacks)

Mugman being logical, reading his book but still enjoys showing off! He's a serious guy but obviously knows how have fun. It's clear this guy is extra careful but not so much he's eye darting and shaking (I hate it when ppl chalk characters up to that) and ofc their brotherly bond. Mugman willingly giving his armor pin to cuphead and keeping an eye on him the entire time they were with Saltbaker. Literally was never a FOOT apart aside from the wash up 😭😭😭

Chalice is impulsive and thrill seeking, pulling pranks and looking for excitement, yet obviously desperately yearns for her life. Oh sweet silly characters with a deep sad dark desire that would eat anyone whole how i love you. Oh and did I mention impulsive? The way her ass so excitedly told the cupbros about Saltbaker and was surprised with their reactions 😭 I can't fully blame her of course! He was one of their best chances to give her a permanent body!

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I find it hilarious how Elder Kettle still fusses over them at their Big Adult Age™️ 😭. Like yeah that's his babies, don't mind the fact they have 21 years of life up their ass they're his children. Grown ass chud babies . And how in turn these grown ass adults keep secrets about where they're going/doing and start sweating like Waterboy from Dispatch the moment it's mentioned from another's mouth while ELDER KETTLE IS SEVERAL ARCHIPELAGOS AWAY.

I'd give my inner organs to see Elder Kettle's reaction to all the bullshit the cupbros have done. Like yeah pops dw we're just here dying, reviving, fighting several HIGH powered ppl, yk like the devil, the salt shaker guy that bakes, a dice head. Oh and did we mention we're friends with a SEA MONSTER? she's gorgeous btw. Oh yeah and this is our new found sister who's a ghost from heavens know what century. I think there's things worth far more concern than a crisp burnt fence, could j be me though

I'm sure all the callbacks to past bosses/enemies sent cuphead show fans to the sky

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Now on to the Saltbaker theory part

Back on to Chalice's fucking impulsivity 😭😭😭 this girl finna be the death of me. She planned a whole prank where she DIES at the hand of SALTBAKER of all people. She had good intentions yes but mind U she tried so hard to convince the cupbros to visit Saltbaker despite what happened 😭. And then runs off to find the guard with a soul helmet disregarding the fact she's a ghost. Poor guy. And her constantly getting stuck in moselaeums idk how to spell that shit.

Saltbaker is an ABSOLUTE NERD 🫵🫵🫵. Literally cannot convince me otherwise. All his theories were on point and even drafted up a method to bring a centure old woman back to life that even the cupbros didn't know about. And mind you these guys have been fighting people with soul-imbued weapons for YEARS. Not only that but he was also determined to sacrifice someone to complete his new project??? My guy bakes more than pastries I tell ya.

I love how Mugman was absolutely READY to throw hands the MILLISECOND something was off. Buddy holds a grudge and SHOWBIZZES it. Pulled out the old sparker when he saw Chalice's head and I swear his hand was on cuphead 80% of the time. My man's FIGHT or flight was clockin in 😭.

But at the same I love the fact that despite having a vendetta reservations against Saltbaker he entrusted the decision to Cuphead instead. He was the most affected by the ordeal and instead of trying to get him as far away as possible, he let Cuphead decide. He knows Cuphead's an idiot (I mean going into a temple drunk??? Cmon man) despite that, he still trusts that he'll make the right decision and treats him like an adult.

And just the way Mugman literally folds the minute puppy eyes are in his face 😭😭😭 and his pure unadultered excitement when a lil sing n dance is mentioned, he's so real for that

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Now the Darlin Duo!

RAHHAHAGGAHAGAHAGHAGAHAGHA OH MY GOD I COULD NOT STOP GIGGLING KICKING MY FEET AND HIGH PITCHED SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME I WATCHED THE VIDEO HELLLO???? I still do every rewatch

Alice's voice? Her eyes? Her hair?? Mugman CANNOT handle ALLAT. Godbless whoever voiced her YOU'RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE!!! IM ADDICTED TO HER VOICE 😭😭 the way it's deep and so alluring oh my god HELLLOOOOOO. And Bendy well-... I'm joking I'm joking I loved how his voice sounded at the end, the accent and how high it was. He sounds exactly like how he looks and I couldn't imagine a better voice for him. I rlly wanna hear what a duet with em sounds like

And the music oh my lord the music. I randomly sing last call now. I need to lyrics INJECTED into my vocal cords and that melody and instrumental forever in my eardrums. The way it's starts is slow and relaxing at first and then two sudden louder parts that has quieter parts in between and then ITS TIME FOR LAST CALL 💃💃💃 AND ITS SOO UPBEAT HALLELUJAH 😭😭😭 and the crowd "Last call"? OH IVE GOTTA KNOW HOW IT WAS DONE IT SOUNDS SO REAL

Oh my lord the animation? I've mentioned that right? I've mentioned the animation yes? OH MY GOD 😭😭😭😭 I absolutely LOVED the close up on Alice's lips, they way theyre animated and drawn MOVE MUGMAN MOVE. In all seriousness I love how bouncy??? Flowy??? The movements are hello??? And oh my god when she first opens her eyes HELLO ANGEL. And the initial dance was beautiful on god the way their feet moved, the constant side to side GORGEOUS. I finna be dunkin donuts the way I'm glazing the living shit out of this video but EVERYONE WHO WORKED ON IT DESERVES EVERY BIT. And I know this is gonna sound so weird but when Bendy and Alice put their foot down and it went from front to side view? CLEAN absolutely CLEAN that shit was SMOOTH. The spin around they did looked like so much fun holy shitttt 😭😭😭 probably one of the hardest things to animate but by god 👏👏👏 I can't believe I'm getting this for FREE. The way Bendy and cuphead were staring at each other? Analyzation aside the FRAME BY FRAME ANIMATION ON THAT BITCH theres smthn special in there I swear, throw me into a wall if I'm wrong but everything else was mostly tweened. It's gonna came back to slap us in the face methinks.

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Now on to the theoretical parts

Obviously these people were hired by the Devil and Dice as we did see Alice answering the phone. Now I'd like to think that the Darling Duo like to play with their food and they pick who gets who.

Bit of a sidenote here but I do think this'll lead to the Cupbros thinking Saltbaker had a hand on this considering that they were present during HIS party giving them the CHANCE to meet the cupbros

They both seem like they like to play mind games with their victims; Alice going the alluring route, being the siren to sailors on sea, and Bendy using banter and ragebait, taking a more arrogant trait of the two.

This is based off of the scene where Alice went towards Mugman and kissed him. (MOVE YOU PATHETIC PORCELAIN.) She knows what she has and knows how to use it -- the way she blinks her eyes, the way her lips move, everything! So she most definitely knew what she was doing and the effects she had on him. She's trying to ALLURE him to her instead of her having to chase him down. Meanwhile Bendy was definitely trying to bait Cups, not by flirting like Alice does, but by making him suspicious. It's highly likely the duo are aware of the Cupbros past with the devil and Bendy knows how obvious his demon self is. But we can very clearly see him staring down at Cups and holding it when Cups glares back. Like Alice, he's also aware of the effects he has on people and they're PERFORMERS, CHAT!!! PERFORMERS!!! They know how to act! They know how to get a certain reaction out of people! Knowing how to make your audience think a certain way is also a part of the art!

I think the matchup is perfect! It was mentioned in a character card that despite being overly paranoid, Mugman can be surprisingly naive; this strengthens Alice's hold on him even more since the bias adds to the naivety! Cups meanwhile already has a vendetta/grudge against demons with a very straightforward thinking: "they're demons, demons are evil." Which again *taps sign* MAKES IT EASIER FOR BENDY TO RAGEBAIT HIM

They've just met, but the game has already started and the Darling Duo are taking the lead of this dance!

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Now the opposing ways of manipulation/methods are actually genius! Mugs is now hypnotized by Alice while Cups is wary of Bendy. This has the potential of creating a divide between the two! While sure Mugs would trust what Cups says, the leverage Alice has with him is STILL THERE. This may be a stretch but this could lead to a PHYSICAL seperation between the Cupbros, if one isn't present then the other can't be revived, leaving the soul exposed. Can't wait to see how this'll play out 👀👀

Which actually we can already see in the animatic! Cuphead trying to tell Mugman about Bendy being a demon but can't bc he's too enamoured by Alice, then Cuphead's attention turns back to Bendy!

When we first started this project, fly had to cajole me into getting into the story a little bit, as I was a little intimidated by the premise. They burst into my room at around 2-3am holding Hailey Senpai's voice dub right to my still-waking face, and made a bet with me saying "I bet you could rewrite this." I was hesitant. But after seeing so many awesome rewrites, I say down and decided "Ah what the heck. Lets have fun with it."

And WE rewrote it :]

We spent nights upon nights throwing ideas at each other, sitting in our bedrooms at 9pm for the last few weeks of June, hammering down what we wanted and using our giant whiteboard to write out a timeline.

By the time we had come up with a pretty good premise, fly said that it was too fun not to do an ask blog, just like the good ol' days, but they were scared to do it. This was another point of my hesitancy, as my previous ask blogs were kind of stressful. I told them to do whatever they wanted, but they never did it.

Finally, i got the stick out of my ass, and I made it for them. I made the hyperlink, I made the hashtag system, I set up the profile and i spent an HOUR figuring out the stupid "Read from the beginning" link (that was later) I made a pfp and fly made a banner.

And it was done!

It never would have happened if fly and i didn't just say "Screw it." And forced each other to start the project.

Now we are here, we have a wonderful community, we have so many ideas, and best of all (my personal favorite)

We have so many new stories being told!!!

It feels like i'm a kid again. I'm always excited to talk about ideas with fly, discuss with friends, answer silly questions, see all the comic dubs, the art, the fan fictions the poetry the songs.

That people are loving creating art again.

I hope to see so much more. So many more stories, so many more characters, so many ideas, so many new friends.

I can't wait! I hope to see you all there :]

Your Friend,