At Some Point, We Have To Wonder If Viv Knows That She's Got An Inherently Unlikeable Character On Her

At some point, we have to wonder if Viv knows that she's got an inherently unlikeable character on her hands

Why else would she go out of her way to make everyone else look bad?

Via, Stella, Mammon, Hell- even Blitz when he's not playing to Stolas' tune.

I started being apathetic towards Stolas when he was kidnapped in Western energy, given how hard they were pushing him, I knew Stolas wasn't going to be seriously hurt or killed.

If there's one criticism about the show Viv knows is valid, it's that Stolas should've stayed a villain.

So many other characters and arcs are sacrificed to try to salvage his slapdash reimagining as an awkward, repressed nerd.

As a writer, I know it can be difficult to admit an idea won't work, but those are the experiences that matter and that you can't improve without. I've had to part with some really promising ideas, simply because they didn't work for the project. But the effort Viv puts in to convince her viewers that nothing's wrong with Stolitz is baffling and, frankly, pathetic.

The Circus was what made me realize that she'd gone off the deep end. Western Energy holds the record for the fastest a piece of media has pissed me off, Stolas making excuses for his shitty actions felt too real, in the worst way possible.

@queen0fm0nsterz , you made me imagine Rascal reading an arcane tome in her favorite armchair while using her black magic to float individual baked beans out of the can and into her mouth. The worst part is that that's exactly the kind of thing I can imagine her doing.

Also, when you think about it, the secret compartment with the bottle in the piano room just amounts to Rascal's keyboard-smash activated emergency liquor stash.

Having read your analysis on Bee, I found myself thinking up a scenerio wherein Mammon chews out the other Sins. Like, the others air out their grievances with Mam and how him personifying Greed rather than encouraging it is giving them a bad public image, what with them being what is basically celebrities in the context of the show. Mammon would sat through it, silently glaring at the others, and when they’re done, he just tears into them. Mammon then proceeds to pick apart the other Sins’ actions and behaviors, noting how they used to personify their respective vices before eventually becoming the watered down versions of themselves they are in the present, probably even questioning why they’d even bother doing so in the first place. The others would probably try to “high road” him, but Mam isn’t having any of it and admits that, yes he is an unapologetically shitty person, but at the very least he’s honest about it, unlike them and the countless skeletons they undoubtedly keep in their closets. (I always interpreted Mammon’s only reason for trying to (poorly) hide his greedy nature is so he doesn’t alienate his potential consumers) Eventually, Mammon decides he’s tired of the conversation, notes he’s got a hot date with a recent divorcee later, and teleports away, leaving the others to stand in awkward silence, none of them willing to admit that Mammon’s verbal eviseration was right on the mark.

Sorry for the wall of text, just sort of had a flash of inspiration from your analysis.

Mam chewing them out would be extremely cathartic to see. After giving it some thought, I think Ozzie and Bee might be the only Sins that go out of their way to "mitigate" their public images. It would work especially well if Mammon reminds them of how well they used to get along and how, unlike Ozzie, he hasn't gone out of his way to antagonize them despite their "growth".

To elaborate on the Bee and Ozzie thing, Lucifer is canonically a pretentious ass to everyone but his family, Bel is highly implied to be so apathetic and lazy that she uses Sloth's general population as her test subjects and is likely too apathetic to care about appearances. What we've seen of Wrath doesn't paint the best picture of Satan, and it's too early to say anything about Levi, or Envy in general.

Nice to see the Golden Goose agenda spreading. And don't sweat it, text walls written in streams of consciousness are always more than welcome here!

Honestly It'd be a power move if Blitzø incinerated the Grimoire Infront of Stolas', effectively depowering him and turning him into the powerless, scared man he paints himself as.

Sorry it took a while to respond, It's been a chaotic week for me.

While I think that would be cool, I can safely say Stolas would lose his cool an petrify Blitz on the spot, and I don't think anyone wants that. Well, other than possibly Stolas, himself.

Spooky Watch (a Spooky Month x Yo-Kai Watch au)

An idea first pondered by @crossover-enthusiast and actually "made" by me. This will involve both lore and hypothetical gameplay/structure.

The Premise

Due to (as of yet undefined) things his dad did, Skid naturally has the ability to see spirits, referred to as spooks.

He half-accidentally summons Moloch, who runs loose, in an effort to convince Pump the spirits he's seeing are real, as you could probably tell, Skid and Pump are less oblivious and somewhat more mature.

While trying to catch Moloch, the boys meet Eyes, who is the leader of all the spooks in town. Learning about what's happening, they gift Pump (as well as Roy and Kevin) a spooky watch (a visual cross between the yo-kai watch and the cult pendants) hoping to let humans and spooks better understand and befriend each other. Eyes is unaware that most spooks are going to use this "thinning of the veil" for their own ends.

After Moloch is dealt with Roy's parents and later mayor Evermore find out about the watches and form the cult in an effort to take and/or recreate the watches so they can enslave the spooks.

Spooks!

Moloch is mostly unchanged, with the exception of not having a lower body at all, as he's a molten gargoyle.

Dexter, specifically the Dexter Fella, is the one spook everyone can see, in the vane of Manjimutt from the anime, always being mistaken for a weird short man. But unlike Manjimutt, Dex intentionally scares people, just not for the reason he wants.

The actual Happy Fella and Sad Guy are also spooks, named Laughella and Gloomuy.

Ooga Booga is a spook that just wants to jumpscare people. In a hypothetical game, she would act like Babblong.

Frank is now Vanab, a van spook based on the toy van Frank from the Deadly Smiles credits. He would also act as the Spooky Watch Mirapo, except instead of teleporting you, he just picks you up and zooms you away.

The Thieves appear as the very yo-kai they were dressed as in the 2019 Halloween drawing by Pelo. Their goofy, reoccurring side villains.

Here Bob is Vealsin, a pig-devil spook who is obsessed with exotic food, an obsession he shares by inspiriting people. When the boys, Roy and Kevin all get to the abandoned Boys n' Grills where Bob declares them his dinner guests, then the eating rhythm game, and then the fight. Bob being a cultist is reflected in Vealsin willingly working with the mayor.

And lastly, SKIDAD! He appears from the mannequin after Moloch gets loose and acts as the Whisper. He looks like a sentient speech bubble.

Yeah, my response was rhetorical. Viv is unique in both the lengths and stupidity of her bad writing choices.

I can't find the post where you said it, but I remember a joke you made where you said Blitz's first word was "Stolas", but just you watch, we'll eventually get a flashback of kid!Blitz sleeping, cuddled up with an owl plushie. (Of course with Fizz nowhere to be seen)

On a side note, I have a theory about Stella, she only exists because it was discovered that Andre wouldn't be able to have kids, hence why Stella was conceived. This also fits with the common assumption that Andre is roughly 10/11 years older, as it would be around that time that any developmental issues with hormones/reproduction would start surfacing. Andrealphus would be their parents' heir, while Stella would be the kid that gets married off. As if her life wasn't already miserable enough, Stella may be living with the knowledge that she's just a way to make up for her brother's "inadequacy" :(

Ugh. Stop. So gross.

That’s really devastating actually…Stella can easily be a more tragic character than stolas could ever be