There's been some commotion in TV World, but it seems like Tenna's wires have snapped to the point of feeling a little glooby with his staff 🙃
Jake Vox was so kind to provide his fantastic voice for Tenna to make something that is fully tailored! Thank you so much again for this amazing collab!
Something that I feel is very true and important to remember is that all of the flowers kind of flub the traits they're meant to represent.
Some ways minor, some ways major.
Aqua isn't patient at all.
Seth just gets frustrated and gives up at several points.
Orange hides away behind walls because she's scared of being bullied, and runs away to an authority figure when she is.
Yellow conflates justice with punishment and enacts punishments even when he doesn't know the crime, and ascribes his justice unevenly- giving unfair favoritism to Blue.
Green is too petty to forget about people owing them money.
The odd one out is Blue, as he embodies his trait better than any of the other flowers (including Flowery, as we'll get to), and does the least to sabotage his own ideals. The closest he gets is in regards to the fact he's so completely on Yellow's side he arguably puts it over his own integrity at times, with the crime & helping fight the Lightners.
And this all brings us to Flowery.
Flowery claims to embody two things: hopes/dreams and friendship. And like all the flowers, he tries what he thinks is best to embody these things... and like all of his siblings, his execution is flawed.
Gonna go over each of these below.
Friendship
Flowery loves his found family, he helps care for their needs, he advocates for all of the flowers where he can, and does so much to try and ensure their dreams are realized. That's not up for debate.
However, in the process of trying to chase what's best for them, in pursuit of what he thinks will give them all an ideal life, he sacrificed any chance he had of spending his time with them. He is at best considered a distant role model they idolize, and at worst (with Blue) someone you follow out of obligation to the others.
He ultimately treats his personal relationship to them all as secondary to doing what best for them, him, and Asgore. So he shirks it.
There will be time for that after they have their ideal life, right?
Does this remind you of anyone?
This is part of why I'm so adamant at Flowery viewing Asgore as a father figure and his family as a distant family to his.
Because this is not only a massive parallel to Asgore himself sacrificing everything in pursuit of proving his own righteousness, pushing his family away in the moment because they were in the way of his truth, but also an arguably strong parallel to both of Asgore's children
Kris is risking all of their relationships, even their whole personhood, on a promise- whether it was made to Carol, Dess, or Asriel doesn't matter. Unlike Flowery and Asgore, though, it's clearly starting to set in for them that this isn't for the best for everyone, and that this isn't actually what they want most for everyone. Whatever it is.
Asriel is a bit more abstract for the obvious reason of him not being in the game, but I don't think it's a huge leap of logic to say him running off to college while his family is collapsing, especially with mutual financial struggles, might imply he's trying to "grow up" and take responsibility for them, even if it means abandoning them all.
He could have also just used it as a convenient excuse to run away, but that doesn't track with me.
Flowery does everything he does because thinks it will benefit his family in the long-run, including neglecting his relationships in the present if it means pushing them along that hopeful goal.
He was trying so hard to pull Asgore out of this delusion the entire chapter, while not realizing he was falling into the same trap.
I'll close this by pointing out how his final attack in his boss fight, Omega Flowery, a transformation directly empowered by his combined friendships with all the other flowers... is objectively the weakest.
And, even IF you whiff the attack prompt at the end, he will try and strike Kris in that moment and... it'll fail, because "he hesitated".
Or, more accurately, everyone else hesitated.
Because they were closer friends to Kris than they were to him.
Hopes/Dreams
Lumping these together because it's hard to differentiate them.
Throughout the entire chapter, Flowery talks so much about he and his family's dreams are just as strong and just as meaningful as the Lightners, that they matter just as much as anyone else's.
This is something that I also don't anyone disagrees with.
But, even with such strong hopes and dreams, over the course of the chapter it's repeatedly shown that most of his outward confidence is a strong face he's putting up for everyone else. He doesn't actually truly believe in them, in their ability to make them real, no matter how badly he wants them to be- because he feels so useless.
Well before he was cut in half, it's made clear he always felt useless. He didn't believe in his dreams because he didn't believe in himself.
Even as he chases after the Knight to rescue Asgore, throwing himself straight at it, he's sweating- because he knows his dreams are over. Knows he's going to die. That there's no hope for him.
He can just hope, only hope, that he buys Asgore enough time.
And that last hope fails him, like all the other times.
My brain was always going 'what if Omega Flowery had Pink' and then I realised something kinda important-Despite Flowery's claims of the bonds of friendship and the like; he actually is pretty distant from the other flowers.
Flowery was not in the Cafe, ever. And he never shared a scene with an Individual flower like the others. So while the Flowers as a whole have very strong bonds, he is treated more like the distant older sibling then an active member of the family. When Orange invited Pink over to be fully welcomed by the other Flowers, everyone besides Flowery was present.
Like, he clearly loves and cares for them. He was constantly advocating for them to Asgore and his bossfight shows he is really close to them all individually-but he still is distant. You look at his dialogue and the fight narration and you see how he's a lot more 'the person i respect' then the person I know. First, let's go to Seth and Aqua:
As seen here. Flowery takes a very authoritative role in his friend group. The type that helps and encourages others, but still it's clear he isn't the equals to Seth and Aqua. He's their older sibling-and he teaches them how to be better themselves (Much like he tried with Ralsei), He is able to meet Aqua on her level, and try to train Seth to be stronger and more confident-but Seth really doesn't seem to like this if we go by their interactions with Ralsei. The moment they are alone with someone who dislikes Flowery, Seth is fully willing to just talk about everything they find annoying about him, and how they wish they were in charge instead of having to take orders from him.
In Aqua's case, she is quite literally impossible to not get along with. The girl is oblivious and Flowery knows this-hence him engaging her on her own level. Aqua however doesn't seem to really care for Flowery beyond the fact their friends, and she is willing to be friends with basically everyone. She is simply to young to have the dynamics that Flowery wants.
Also notable, Aqua and Seth seem more invested in Asgore's happiness, then what Flowery actually does. Seth is the one who follows Flowery's orders the most-but a big part seems to be they trust and respect Flowery knows whats best for Asgore more then them, because Flowery is confident and Seth isn't.
Now, Seth and Aqua are the two who oppose the Fun Gang the most, but Seth themselves is weak-they have the easiest to dodge patterns, get dizzy from their own attacks, and can not fly. Aqua throws knives at us because Aqua likes to throw knives at people in general. They are the people who get in the parties way the most-but also the people who would get in the Fun gangs way no matter what do to Seth's stubborn perseverance when assigned a task and Aqua's... general demeanor.
Now, Orange and Green
The difference in how this group of best friends and coworkers interact with him is staggering. Orange has fully embraces Flowery as her Big Bro, and is giving this her all as they literally combo attack together. He encourages her to be brave and comforts her as the fight takes longer then she wanted.
It is important to remember though, Orange is fine taking the junior position to people. What she wants is to be told she is fulfilling her dream to be a brave and strong warrior, despite being super emotional. She needs a big brother who can encourage her, and Flowery tries to be that with everyone. She is the one person that Flowery's actions 100% are whats needed-and it helps he isn't a jerk to her like he is to Ralsei as he does this. Furthermore, Orange is right next to Aqua and Seth in terms of getting in the Parties way-She was constantly trying to help fight them in the East Wing, even to the detriment of her fellow Flowers since what she wanted was their approval as a warrior. She also organized the Flowers last Bullet Pattern Stand, showing she does have good relations with the other Flowers. She technically didn't get Green to help... but the fact she just ate and as such was at the max power does say Green was participating in the way they felt comfortable to.
Hell, until Flowery calls her to the final battle, Orange is just spending time with Pink, her other 'Big Sibling' who actually makes time for her as they watch the sunset one final time.
But then there is Green, who treats Flowery as a valued customer and business partner, more then a Family member. They like him, sure, but they notably stay out of the fight until Flowery offers them a fortune in tips, and their bonding activity seems to be more based around working together for the shop then actually being super excited to be around him. Green is where Flowery's methodology falls apart-They are also Oranges older sibling, but Flowery is not their brother. This is especially true in how Green is only, and I mean only, willing to help oppose the Fun Gang when Orange asks them-outside the massive tip of course. Hell even after the fight Green restores all your items for free. They clearly aren't actually that comfortable or concerned with what Flowery wants.
But probably the biggest example for Flowery not being as close to his fellow Flowers... is Blue.
Yellow is... well as expected. Like Aqua Flowery match's his energy; playing into the role of the lawman. But Blue?
Blue isn't even called a friend or partner. He's a rival. And you can not take the senior position that Flowery craves as a rival. You have to be equals, and Flowery's demeanor... is kinda infuriating if you don't subscribe to him as your big bro, or are fine with whatever.
Blue is constantly shown to not care for Flowery, maybe because he's manipulative, maybe because he breaks the rules and Blue cares a lot for integrity, maybe just because Flowery is annoying. But if you look at what Blue did, Blue was just as on the players side as Green-it's just Blue was fine fighting the players if Yellow was.
Blue just was gonna hand over the key to the shears until he found the Fun Gang tricked Yellow into arresting himself-and when Blue was accused of a crime he did, he came clean. When flowery was accused of unwrongful imprisonment, he begun to argue it was justified imprisonment, despite the fact everyone knows what Aqua is like and how she would just give it away, and Ralsei had to sacrifice himself to disprove him. This is true to who Flowery is, as a man who does not believe in rules, but also completely contraryu to Blue.
Also, Blue was mandatory to even scale the castle-His part of the last stand was making platforms for Yellow to shoot-which would have been less effective then just letting Yellow shoot us with no way to progress. Blue genuinely feels like they are part of the Flower's found family... but not Flowery's, and follows Flowery because the others do.
This culminated in how Flowery was not able to actually beat Kris, that despite deriding Kris' bonds to Susie and Ralsei his weren't actually stronger-his attempts to take the role of leader, alongside prioritizing Asgore's happiness to anyone elses, meant that he didn't actually grow as close to the other Flowers as they did each other.
Maybe if he was closer to the others, or even just paid enough attention to them to go and meet Pink so she could help-he might have won. But he was determined in himself being able to break the rules, he didn't actually realise what his relationships were: He wanted to help everyone become their best self, but only half the flowers cared for him enough to give it their all.
One thing I really do thank Age of Sigmar for is how the female versions of monstrous races still look... well monstrous.
The recent Ogor release has female Ogors amongst the male ones (Confirming Ogors do, indeed, fuck). And they still look like the giant cannibal mercenaries the male ones do!
Similarly, the Ghouls and Abberants of the Flesh Eater Courts, being devolved humans and vampires inflicted with the Madness of Ushoran has the female members similarly disolved.
gracieabrams
amandla
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
