#phanta talks

Little Mac:

- Definitely watched Nickelodeon growing up. I can see him being a fan of Rocket Power or like Hey Arnold.

- Besides boxing, I like to headcanon he enjoys skateboarding as a sort of hobby. Can’t confidently say wether he’d be good or bad at it though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- Camera shy. Being a kid, I don’t think he fully understood how popular he would become as he rose through the circuits and can end up acting a bit shy around cameras and reporters. It can be a bit overwhelming at times.

- Bilingual. Speaks English and Spanish.

- Comic book fan! I think he’d be really into Spiderman.

Glass Joe:

- Fan of wine tasting! Has more of a preference towards red wine.

- Likes baking, very good at baking breads and savory foods rather than pastries though.

- Paints as a hobby, still does so in his free time but not as often as he would like.

Von Kaiser:

- Likes to tinker with machines in his spare time. He has a small collection of antique cuckoo clocks he has repaired.

- Likes antique stuff. Keeps an antique pocket watch with him most of the time.

- Besides being a boxing teacher, I feel he’s able to teach other subjects as well. Mainly science and history.

- Very close with his mother.

- As stern and serious as he seems, I do feel he genuinely cares about the other boxers and enjoys time spent with them.

- Has been boxing for a while. Was a real menace in the ring back when he was in his prime (I feel like his instant knockdown move in his Title Defense fight alludes to this)

- Takes boxing very seriously, always emphasizes that boxing takes a lot of determination and discipline to succeed at it.

Disco Kid:

- Owns a collection of retro aerobics DVDs.

- Very extroverted and sociable. I like to believe he’s on good terms with all the other boxers.

- Has a very varied taste when it comes to music. Disco is his favorite genre hands down, but his music playlist just has tons of different genres.

King Hippo:

- Really great with kids! Due to his branding, he has quite a few child fans. He’s always happy to take photos with them!

- Really just very friendly with fans in general, always ready for photographs and autographs.

Piston Hondo:

- Based on his love for Sailor Moon, I think he gravitates more towards bishoujo genre manga and anime.

- A really good listener and actually tends to give good advice when asked.

- Likes Pokemon! I feel his favorite would either be Hitmonchan or Sylveon!

- Vocaloid fan!

Bear Hugger:

- Not too surprising but I do think he would actually give the best hugs.

- Really friendly towards the other boxers, I feel like most of them try to reciprocate his kindness out of respect.

- Really gentle guy out of the ring, he’s especially soft towards animals and insects.

- Speaks some French!

Great Tiger:

- Likes to rap. (I love you Punch Out live action commercials) He has made at least one diss track aimed at Little Mac.

- I feel like he wouldn’t like it when people call what he does “magic”, like he feels that term diminishes it. He prefers to call them illusions or something else to make it sound more high class in a way if that makes sense? “Magic” makes him think he’s doing a cup and ball trick in the ring. (But like. It’s totally magic, it’s hard to call it anything else)

- Talks to his clones sometimes. Sometimes talks to them to seek out advice in certain situations (Think like consulting your conscience except your conscience takes the form of a physical copy of you.)

- Likes those really cheesy Bollywood action movies. The ones with over the top effects and way too many explosions.

Don Flamenco:

- Walkout music is Suavemente by Elvis Crespo. That’s his favorite song.

- Started boxing as a way to get attention and make women swoon. Eventually started appreciating the sport itself and takes it seriously now.

- Definitely wears eyeliner and mascara in the Title Defense fight. I feel he’s also has a beauty routine.

- Flamenco dance instructor in his free time.

Aran Ryan:

- Loves practical jokes and pranks.

- Actually really good at Irish step dancing.

- Grew up the eldest sibling among three younger sisters.

- Because of his sisters, he actually knows a lot about hobbies and pastimes that are generally considered “girly” (braiding hair, painting nails, arts and crafts, etc.)

- Probably opens up to the other boxers the least.

Soda Popinski:

- Despite his love of soda, he just doesn’t like sparkling water.

- Probably the most amicable boxer next to Bear Hugger. He may seem intimidating but he’s pretty down to earth. I do think he is unaware of how intimidated other boxers feel by him though.

Bald Bull:

- Genuinely think he’s a nice guy when he’s not in the ring or having a camera shoved in his face.

- With that being said I feel he does have some anger issues, the paparazzi just makes it much worse.

- Secretly has a sweet tooth! (Mmmmm pistachio Turkish delight!)

Super Macho Man:

- Rich parents. Grew up pretty spoiled.

- Knows how to play the piano somewhat, his parents paid for a lot of piano lessons when he was younger. He’s actually quite good at it!

- Definitely wears make-up and is very knowledgeable on how to apply it! I feel he owns a lot of different beauty products but he moreso wears make-up out of the ring.

Mr. Sandman:

- Fan of Kirby games (Yes it’s because he says dreamland but consider: His favorite Kirby game is Kirby’s Dreamland 3 because of the cute animal companions)

- Honestly pretty chill outside of the ring. Still stoic but a lot more relaxed and even cracks some jokes here and there.

- I think he deals with a lot of stress though. He’s world champ and has to focus on his public image and defending his title and training and I feel a lot of the time that can kinda be a lot.

BONUS:

Group Headcanons!

- Piston Hondo overheard of Bear Hugger’s love for raw fish and invited him to try sushi. He’s a fan of salmon rolls!

- Von Kaiser, Aran Ryan, and Soda Popinski sometimes go out drinking together. They seem like an odd bunch but they play off each other really well!

- Von Kaiser helps Glass Joe train sometimes when they’re both available. I think they get along :>

- Bear Hugger and Glass Joe chat a lot! It’s easier for Joe to talk to him since Bear Hugger is able to speak French :)

- Super Macho Man and Don Flamenco share make-up tips sometimes!

I think me and most people who do rewatch the show and don’t remember anything enter the rewatch thinking that Lance is a bit of an ass, maybe you assume he thinks he’s better than everyone. He’s a loner, emo if you will. And he is emo for the most part but there is more to him. Lance is a character defined by flaws. Since his childhood he was deemed as insubordinate and this continues into his adolescence with risky behavior. Lance shows almost a blatant disregard for his wellbeing in some scenes. The first instances that come to mind are him running into oncoming traffic (I do believe this happens more than once but I’m citing episode 2 specifically), purposefully getting eaten by an alien to destroy it from the inside (episode 2 again), and the entirety of the Phantom Ninja episode showcases Lance taking on random crimes in the middle of the night. Lance is chastised by both Ilana and her father, the king for his reckless behavior however the fact that Lance does all this begs the question of: why? This is answered in the Phantom Ninja episode where it shows that Lance feels a sense of fulfillment and purpose from fighting. Of course, it is his mission to protect Ilana and he does mainly fight for that reason but I also wanna bring up Lance’s childhood.

It is unclear exactly how old Lance was when his father passed but it is shown he was very young and from then on, was sent to combat training. Lance was constantly bullied and it heavily affected his reputation and from then on, he underwent a pretty extreme regimen to prove himself to others and to make himself stronger. With this development happening at such a young age for Lance, it’s safe to assume that fighting is most of what he knows. Most of what we see from his childhood in flashback scenes is him training and fighting (granted if we’re not seeing him be belittled or chastised by authority figures). It’s like most of his childhood was spent on him becoming some kind of weapon and he didn’t have time to really explore other avenues to express himself or to cope with his father’s passing.

Thankfully, we do see him engage in hobbies in later episodes (he fixes up a car and proceeds to drive it in the White Dragon episode, even obtaining his drivers license. And Disenfranchised shows he has an interest in music and he even joins a band albeit temporarily). However fighting is his main outlet and he still spends a lot of his time doing that to defend Ilana and Earth as a whole. And he is still a flawed person. Lance and Ilana usually bicker over conflicting beliefs of what they should do in dangerous situations, Lance even admits to being wrong in a few cases (episode 3 immediately comes to mind for both of these). The important thing is that he does work through these flaws, even becoming more sociable and legitimately seeing Ilana and Octus as his family and trusting people like Solomon. At times he is still irritable, antisocial and overprotective but you do see him change throughout the series and you really get the sense that he is growing as a character but still retains flaws that make him feel real and complex. Again, he is emo but also more than that.