Oho what's this? I'm making Skullgirls headcanons?
I ain't kidding. Yes, I am. I actually have super mixed feelings about the many open-ended threads of lore in the game. I kinda like it because it allows me to make headcanons like this (ignore the Medici fuckup), but at the same time, I don't really think it had a good impact on the story. Lots of interesting stuff could be put there.
Without further ado, LET'S GO!
BEWARE OF LEWD: MILD/COMEDIC NSFW FOR THE LAST ONE!
Samson helps Filia pickpocket and steal credit cards. Samson also helps her gamble at the casino because Samson had gambler hosts. They do this sparingly, and they're pretty average. They prefer the lotto tickets.
Skullgirls world technology level is close to that of our current time in the 21st century. However, the uses and people's mannerisms are more of the 40's with many tweaks for the rule of cool.
Speaking of tech, Brain Drain is an AI bro, the sort who screams, "AI ART IS REAL ART AAAAA," and gets into fights over it. Valentine is neutral on AI. Dr. Avian is also pro-AI, but is ethical and knows the limits and challenges. Brain Drain types out whole text messages about AI and instigates LEGENDARY arguments among the labs.
Irvin fights in an ambidextrous manner like Revy from Black Lagoon (can't help it - his two guns remind me of her). Many chicks dig him because TALL, DARK, AND MYSTERIOUS IS VERY HOT 🥵😭🍑💖🔥🔥🔥.
After Umbrella's story mode, Parasoul heard of Filia and Carol's plight and arranged them to have certain support and properties under the proper officials. Filia and Carol now live together and will be having scholarships for college.
Aside from working for the Anti-Skullgirl labs, the previous squads of the Last Hope participated in King Franz's war campaigns. In this headcanon, the SG world has a rule like ours that states combat medics shouldn't be shot at. King Franz took advantage of this and used these squads for biological warfare and effective surprise attacks.
Double also supported herself in the human world as an actress. She was always bitchy and mean to Annie, Selene, Eliza, and literally every celebrity that breathed in her face in that disguise. She was the number 1 drama instigator in their media. Every damn time, there would be something wild popping out about her.
Albus (the bodyguard of Eliza that looks like Anubis) is not a jackal but a black dog feral. This is based on how Anubis may not really be a jackal but a Pharaoh hound (I love long-faced dogs they're sooooo cute 🥺).
The first head of the Medici family had Leviathan as his host. He enjoyed art and music and gave Leviathan as a gift to the Contiellos. He once had the life gem, so when he took Leviathan from his body, he didn't die. (My most preferred one. The other have this head be Lorenzo's parent or boss). This head was more pragmatic than Lorenzo, though, and preferred to be stealthy and smart. He was also more of a fighter, too. Lorenzo is the more hedonistic, narcissistic, flamboyant one who likes being on the front pages of magazines like Bugsy Siegel and buying expensive stuff.
Since Leviathan stated that he and Samson were present before the Skull Heart, then I'll make this headcanon - parasites have been around since the prehistoric ages. Once humans, ferals, gigans, elves, dagonians, etc. grew more complex and the parasites began spending more time with them, that was when they learned to talk in their languages and articulate their ideas as such. Parasites always had complex minds and were able to form long-term memories, they just didn't know how to articulate them until they crossed paths with civilization.
Ferals procreate like the Mink Tribe in One Piece. When the parents are two different species, the kid may come out as another species that isn't their parents'. Same with Dagonians. (One thing I noticed is that these two races in Skullgirls remind me of the Minks and Fishmen in One Piece).
Cerebella didn't attend school. She was homeschooled and trained by the mafia since day 1.
Not my headcanon, but I support it. Beowulf is actually very smart. Has actually taken PhDs and loves to read. Aside from having side roles as the big bad wolf in Annie's show, he is a librarian. He also used these smarts in the ring, where he'd calculate his strikes.
When simply patrolling, The Last Hope also gives medical treatments for free.
Peacock also watches cartoons in the Skullgirls equivalent of Adult Swim. She does prefer the sillier, kiddy ones, though.
Parasoul likes Annie of the Stars because that was her comfort media. Ever since her father started his wars, ever since she was training to be a worthy queen, especially after her mother died, Parasoul deep down looked up to Annie's lessons of standing up for good, never giving up, and protecting the innocent. Though being a real-life head-of-state has more complexities, deep down, Parasoul would always love Annie, her inspiration.
The one with the real political power in Canopy Kingdom is actually a prime minister. However, the Renoir family will always find a way to have the final say if the situation calls for it.
New Meridian is actually like what Hong Kong is to China. It's considered separate, but the Canopy Kingdom has a degree of dominance over it.
The reason why Queen Nancy was a very powerful Skullgirl was, aside from the wish she made to stop the wars and the fact that she was in a warzone most likely filled with dead warriors, especially powerful ones, the umbrella Todd had something to do with it.
Big Band once played gigs at nightclubs to support himself in police academy. He had to be very careful because many of those nightclubs were run by the mafia, and it's not just the Medici Mafia.
When not angry, Carol/Painwheel likes to fly around with the Buer Drive. No thoughts, head empty, just fly around wheeeee ✈️.
If told to draw, Robo Fortune cannot draw hands (a jab at some AI art engines drawing hands so badly). She can't even trace a hand on a paper for whatever reason, and it's driving Brain Drain mad.
The second person in Fukua is actually Shamone on her head. Regarding the two people used to create her, the warrior good at close combat was actually Delilah - Brain Drain actually found an artifact confirmed to be Delilah's and it was fortunate that it had her DNA stuck on it. The assassin who specialized in ranged combat was one of Black Dahlia's best bunny girl assassins.
Taliesin can master any stringed instrument in a short period of time ( the longest is like 2 weeks) except for piano.
There is a pro-Medici Mafia series super beloved in New Meridian, which I could see as their equivalent of "the Sopranos." It's called "My Outlaw Darling." It's a live action just in case some of you think it's animation like My Little Pony or My Dress-up Darling because of the title reference. Bad - or maybe good hehehehe 😊 - news: it's very smutty, risqué, sexy, and 🍑 PASSIONATE ✨️. Embarrassingly, Lorenzo was walked in on many times doing "self-love" to the dirty scenes, particularly the ones between men for whatever reason. IDK, he's bored. This series gets on the Renoir's nerves. Since King Franz isn't really doing much in public, if he uses his TV as background noise, once he hears the "My Outlaw Darling" opening song, he has to stop himself from smashing the TV if he's doing something that requires him to keep sitting down. Peacock also hates it and actually gets up to fire lasers at the TV once she hears the theme! She and her gang have a joke about the airing time of the series where they call it "the witching hour."
Regarding the sexual nature of "My Outlaw Darling," I don't know why it isn't called "OutLewd" 🤔.
MOAR SKULLGIRLS HEADCANONS 💖💀
I wanted to focus more on the previous aforementioned skullgirls in the game becquse they were so interesting. Sorry, I love this game so much it's been an influence on my art and even my own characters 😣😣😣! I actually like the trope pf wealthy/powerful ghost and undead, that's why, and you can blame Charles Dickens for that, actually 😂.
🌟 ANNIE'S MOTHER
Annie's mother was a village leader, and village leaders definitely make decisions they aren't proud of.
Annie's mother had to take the place of Annie's father, who died. Both loved each other and Annie dearly. This gave her the chance to teach Annie her ways, no matter how hard it got.
Apparently, it hurt her more than Annie because Annie would have to see the reality of being a dominant figure in a society, that it's not all sunshine and rainbows. But Annie knew. Annie is not dumb.
Annie's mother was an astronomer and astrologer. She managed to keep a fair relationship with the ruling class, and her village usually specialized in mediation, matchmaking, peacemaking, and consultation.
She knew Annie was inheriting that leadership spirit, but Annie was idealistic and she didn't want Annie to grow up and learn the pain of being a STABLE positive influence, ironically becoming the negative influence herself as the Skullgirl.
After this shitshow, Annie ended up exiled from the village.
🎶 SELENE CONTIELLO
Selene and other artists, poets, opera singers, and theater people of her level, usually elite artisans, kickstarted the New Meridian entertainment industry.
The Medici Mafia became the primary patrons of these artists (based on early Hollywood's mob involvement, especially the music industry - think Frank Sinatra), leading to a surge in celebrity culture in the Skullgirls world.
Well, since New Meridian was more liberal, they became a threat to the Renoirs, and ultimately, they just gave them that Mainland China - Hong Kong agreement thing in the end. Either way, the artisans weren't free to make whatever they liked because sometimes the Medicis might see signs of resistance, so it was a "choose your hard" situation.
👑 NANCY RENOIR
Lile many royals, Franz and Nancy's marriage was arranged. But the Canopian system is more meritocratic. These two had to train with their umbrellas and build fighting and strategic skills to bear strong, healthy, and smart children.
Despite Franz and Nancy's marriage having been arranged since their teenage years, the two have formed a relationship of genuine trust despite their arguments and disagreements on ruling.
Franz and Nancy both understood the plan to have children to continue the kingdom and its bloodline, and though Nancy and Franz didn't really love each other romantically, they did their best to have a proper relationship and raise Parasoul.
Both embodied the aspects that kept Canopy Kingdom strong, with Franz being the brute force and law enforcement, while Nancy was the fairness and incentives, creating some kind of balance, no matter how twisted - they were a conjugal dictatorship, in short.
However, Nancy internally and externally, ultimately disagreed more with Franz's ruling style, so this made her wish to raise Parasoul right for the empire to avoid a total collapse, but drummed into her that there is crisis, so Parasoul knows the priorities before moving on to the better side of the plan. Though, now, it seems like Parasoul is the PR for the masses, while Franz does the actual paperwork and heavy-hitting. Parasoul doesn't seem to mind since keeping the peace and preventing any Skullgirl scares is top priority.
The umbrella Todd has Skullgirl-like powers because the ASG was commissioned to imbue it with Skullgirl blood. Specifically, it can be used to kill large swathes of people and then have them be undead minions.
🧹 MARIE KORBEL
Tying in the headcanons with the other three, since they were all dominant, influential figures with desires being tied to keeping power in a way no matter how good the intention, another reason why Marie is weaker is because her role as a maid is subservient, with a simple wish being to protect an equal (Peacock, her dear friend), than to rule instead of another (Annie's mother), to keep an influential family together (Selene), or for a kingdom to have peace (Nancy).
Of course, that also has something to do with her willpower and, of course, the simplicity of her wish. Though, Nancy's strength boost indeed had something to do with the war AND the umbrella Todd.
Also, her wish is hyperspecific, and the reason why she has a greater chance of shattering the Skull Heart if rattled enough (as shown in her story mode) is because the Skull Heart is an object that causes harm. Her wish was to protect Peacock, which can only come true if she is put in a place where she is forced to snap out of the Skull Heart's control. It is still a selfish wish in a way because it is actually a wish for someone in her close circle and not really "the common good."
Bonus: 🌂 UMBRELLA
It's definitely her Skullgirl blood keeping her father Franz alive. Franz is holding Todd at the moment and is its undead minion. As long as someone related to Nancy with Skullgirl blood is alive, he remains alive - it's a Squigly situation, yet more hyperspecific. And since he's holding Todd, he remains in control.
The corpse in question that Umbrella revived was Franz's. She went near the grave unknowingly in the mausoleum. This was when everyone realized she had Skullgirl powers and, going by the pattern of SG blood-type kids becoming Skullgirls, was given Hungern to keep this ability in check.
Umbrella is homeschooled.
The looming threat of Umbrella being worse than Nancy is because, aside from Umbrella being the daughter of the most powerful Skullgirl, a child's emotions are very strong, and their wants and needs are selfish and reckless. And since the heart has strong ties to motherhood, what is better to manipulate than a little princess wanting her mother?
That threat is exactly why Umbrella is so pampered and sheltered in the palace, much to her annoyance. However, there is a chance of this doing more harm that good, as shown in Parasoul's story mode where she wanders off, which is why she must be monitored at all times, especially by Parasoul, who is among those strong and patient enough to handle the tantrums and also someone Umbrella truly listens to.
💔 THE SKULL HEART
It crashed on Earth the moment the beings on it gained the ability to have complex thought, thus creating room for desires and then wishing for a shortcut. Basically, the Trinity saw its creations as sinful the moment they gained complex thought and began using the Skull Heart to cleanse the world and make way for a "perfect" one in the True Story Mode (RIP to that one because they ain't doing nothing with it 😭😭😭).
The Skull Heart is basically something to control, as shown in Robo-Fortune and Marie's storylines. Since MOTHER = DOMINANT, CHILD = SUBSERVIENT, it can command armies.
Now, this isn't my headcanon, but I think this makes sense, but the Skull Heart is made of Theonite, the element made to make living weapons and is even imbued in parasites' bodies (giving their hosts longevity or the ability to block the Skull Heart's influence). The point of Theonite is to give animate the inanimate and to give life to the dead. The Life Gem is also made of theonite.
Red eyes and white/lightened hair is a sign of the tampering with life and death in general in the Skullgirls world. A parasite intervening with the process is shown through red eyes (Filia and Squigly). SG blood or being affected by a Skullgirl's wish is shown through lightened hair (Annie and Umbrella) - having lightened hair only like Annie means you are affected by a Skullgirl's wish, while having red eyes like Umbrella with the lightened hair is having Skullgirl blood. (Successful) Artificial injection with SG blood like Carol gives the red eyes but normal hair. Life Gem revival from death for the first time is shown through everything being normal except white hair (Ms. Fortune - IDGAF what the comic says, she was orange before). The reason why Eliza shows none of these traits is because she simply didn't die or get too close to death when Sekhmet possessed her.
