Assigned Chicken At Ask

he’s fine don’t worry about him

Also enjoy the details they took a while to texture correctly plus one without words cause ya

body language masterlist

a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

550 words to say instead of fuckin said

638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

you'd have to say -

I never figured Max had any relation to really, any of the lords, I guess? Which sounds silly saying out loud now lol. But especially not Pokotho. So I wanna hear what you're seeing that I'm not ;0

I’m so glad you asked! I have too many thoughts about this

there’s a little theory that Max’s has been under the “influence” of Pokotho since the very first time we see him that I've latched onto

some of the evidence that I have seen/amassed, which generally boils down to four things: Fourth Wall, Singularity/the Singular Voice, a recurring theme of Pokotho making people "lose", and Waylon Hall.

1) He is the only character in NPMD to break the fourth wall. It’s a consistent character quirk of his to actively acknowledge the audience.

“you all look disappointed… / you can leave / but you won’t / stay in your seat”

telling the audience to “shut up” in the pro shot when they laugh for too long/eat up his screentime

when he’s bullying Pete, even while he’s ‘still human’, he controls the lighting of the stage. the stage literally bends to his will

how he 'saves' Pete from Steph shooting him, turning the moment into slow motion a la Hamilton is another act of manipulating the stage

We witness similar behaviour in TGWDLM when 1) the ensemble 'breaks character' after La Dee Dah Day and 2) during bows when Emma is screaming for help from the audience; we already know from the opening number that Emma's fate is sealed as an extension of Pokey's will

continuously entering from the audience before he attacks Ruth and Richie. it's not uncommon for Starkid to use the audience as an extension of the stage (the alley/bushes from TGWDLM and the Nerdy Prudes entering the Waylan place) but nine times out of ten, Max is gonna enter from the audience instead of the stage

2) a few scattered lines that imply (much like in Hadestown and TGWDLM) that NPMD is a time loop that only Max is cognizant of. he’s aware that he’s a doomed character and is “willing to take advantage” (again, much like the extensions of Pokey's will in the opening number of TGWDLM)

3) As a person/character, one of his foundational truths/worldview is grounded in singularity

the title song “Nerdy Prudes Must Die” highlights this. especially when Max tells Richie he’s not doing this to seek revenge for killing him, but rather “I’m on a new crusade / [the world] needs to be saved / and you’re too weak to be enslaved”

which stands as very similar rhetoric to Pokey’s Will in TGWDLM (and Nightmare Time's Yellow Jacket)

he’s often regarded as “God-like” and a “singular voice” (“he’s the reason with no why”, telling Pete that Max is the only one who can tell him what he can be: “you’re a nerd because I said so, I willed it into existence”)

4) re: the Paul post, Max’s final sentiment to Richie in the NPMD song is VERY similar to Paul’s to Emma in “Inevitable”

“Emma, I’m sorry, you lost” is telling Emma that she never beat him (Pokey). “Emma, I’m sorry, you lost your way” is Pokey telling her she’s strayed from the path that he deems ‘suited’ for her. Pokey takes a similar stance to Max here: Emma can only be what Pokey says she can be, what he 'willed into existence'). she’s a former theatre kid, and now she’s a bitter adult who’s not disillusioned! she’s not easy for him to control anymore!

similarly, look at Max’s exchange with Richie. “I’m not a loser.” “Of course not, Richie! But you have lost everything”

Max is communicating very similar themes to Richie. An alternative definition of “loser”. Not a social loser, but someone who has lost his right to live

Pokey's lines as Paul are used to put Emma back in her place, to reclaim the power she believes that she's taken from him. Max's lines to Richie (and earlier, Pete) are exactly the same: Pete questioned his authority and power, Richie being included by the football team is the last thread of power over Hatchetfield High being snipped. So, he reminds them who has the power. (ib: Vil N. Melling’s “Richie’s Death is More Horrifying Than You Think”)

5) the more surface level piece of evidence is Max’s blue motif

it’s an interesting choice that his veins are very prominently blue, that the lighting paired with his murderous red is blue. It’s one of NPMD’s primary colours and often used to specifically represent Max

the blue veins that crawl up the arms of his letterman jacket, not just his skin. it's so much more than just an embodiment of his cold, rotting body. it visually consumes him.

and though Max is technically a ghost, where have we seen people’s anatomy and organs change to blue before? When Pokey was infecting Hatchetfield in TGWDLM

6) another weaker piece of evidence comes from The Summoning

it’s interesting that Pokotho’s name is uttered first but not the strangest or most compelling point

certain lyrics from The Summoning also echoes Max’s own demands as a vengeful spirit (“won’t stop until all the blood is drawn” + the Lords in Black implying they prefer Max’s crusade as it will “help the world”)

also curious that they say “you summon us once, you summon us twice” when Grace, Steph, and Pete only utter each of their names once in The Summoning (though I'm also a big advocate for 'time doesn’t exist linearly for the Lords', meaning they could be well aware that Grace will summon them again or are just referring to Solomon Lauter)

7) However, Max is inherently tied to the Lords in Black, more specifically, Pokotho

His soul was reawakened with his “new crusade” in the Waylon Place.

Waylon Hall was built by the Waylon family, who were worshippers of the Lords in Black. They also built the closest thing to Pokey’s ‘domain’, the Starlight Theatre and Hatchetfield High School, Max's 'domain'.

it's canon that dying in Waylon Hall is what allowed Max to come back as he did. because NPMD makes an effort to highlight the fact that the Waylons built both the high school and the place where TGWDLM's inciting incident and climax takes place, I don't think it's a huge stretch of the imagination to assume Pokotho's got his grubby little rock hands on more than just the Starlight.

one (me, hello there) could argue the Nerdy Prudes’s “first summoning” of the Lords in Black was their “sacrifice” of Max in Waylon Hall but that's neither here nor there

this is largely inspired by the video analysis by owlharì “the tragedy of max jägerman” which permanently altered my brain chemistry and how I perceived Nerdy Prudes Must Die as an installment of the Hatchetfield series.

ironically, my first introduction to Hatchetfield was a college performance of NPMD, where I was totally thrown for a loop by The Summoning scene and felt like the inclusion of the Lords in Black/the black book was tonally out of place. maybe that's still true for NPMD as a piece of individual media, but this analysis/theory did a lot of work for making me better appreciate how NPMD fits into the Hatchetverse.

also inadvertently made me develop the theory/belief that Pokotho is the true puppet master/most powerful Lord in Black but that's a rant for another time