My Interests Are But Balls In A Pinball Machine

Call me Jay or Jaybird, she/any. I sometimes draw and even rarely write I do not control the adhd hyperfixation It controls me

[jaybirdhitman]

Long post ahead, but I've had this godamn gunman in my head for weeks now, and I barely see any Analysis on Wpnz' character, which is a shame, so I'm gonna rant about things I noticed and how I feel. I've rewatched it so many times and even took to going frame by frame in some instincaes to see what I could catch.

Obligatory tag for @mochi-bons and @starwardchaos @sin-fork02 as you three have been subjected to my insanity and I dragged you down with me

This will probably be incoherent bc I have so many thoughts about WPNZ and the character they gave him

I'll dive more into Wpnz, Karen and the Kids and that whole situation, and Gunshow separately. This is just about character as a whole

A few of the of the main things I noticed about Wpnz that I want to talk about is that he's constantly adjusting and shifting how he acts or what he does based on feedback he gets, how much he cares and wears those emotions on his sleeve and communicate them (even if poorly), how how much he seems to value honesty.

he continues to still course correct and grow after his defeat by Karen and the kids is one of the big factors I notice

Like one just his consideration of erasing his memories at his lowest is something to talk about. The whole reason he works with Puzzles in the first place.Because you have to really have cared, really be hurt and really regret something to even consider getting rid of it like that.

And I love in that context, of him having flashbacks of his kids and those memories directly having him change his behaviour (see him and Toomp when stealing from Bob) for example, or those memories where he fondly remembers his time with Karen and compared it with Puzzles, that he genuinely reflected on and took seriously, to be able to tell Puzzles to forget it.

To be able to do that is incredible and just showing the feature of Wpnz of being able to take what's essentially feedback and change accordingly, and even though his anger gets the best of him and seems to cover bigger emotions like devastation and hurt is really neat in character writing

And in context to his anger, that al consuming rage he experiences in silence of the cats that has him just shooting with no direction, he never enters that again after.

Wpnz never again enters that all controlling rage again. He gets fucking furious yes, but he's never out of control again which is *fascinating*.He corrected and while still furious, is actually in control.

And instead if just spewing rage words, he's actually trying to communicate what he feels, chases Puzzles down through time to tell the man how he's feeling, completely with the intention of killing him after until Puzzles gives him a genuine apology, and lets Wpnz vent his frustrations and wants to be hit

Which also, what a fucking parallel between the two

Bc I refuse to believe in silence of the cats he was going to kill Karen, especially when it's shown how much he cares about her and his kids. He held that blast for a long time, making a point instead of just killing her. I firmly believe he would've fired to miss like he does later with Puzzles. (And when you go frame by frame, before Zack cuts off his leg, the charge is no longer active, it's not lit to fire)

But at the end of that fight, he lets them get that final hit, he just braces and lets it happen, focusing after the fact instead on how he made them that strong (and it's true) instead of the defeat he was telling about in the throws of hurt and rage

But I firmly think in that last fight with Puzzles, Wpnz saw himself, bc it does parallel what happened with him and Karen.

Puzzles apologizes, means it. They fight and Puzzles is letting him do whatever, completely accepting the last blow.

Wpnz absolutely saw himself in that and that's why he gets angry, bc "gaddamn it we're the fucking same"

And gives puzzles that second chance that Wpnz himself blew

Now, onto Wpnz and his values and just how he acts. Originally with the puzzles betrayal I thought he was so mad bc of the valued friendship (which is a huge factor) but you know what it is? What I get from rewatches?

Communication and honesty. That's what he values

Bc we see it first with Karen. Even though he isn't the best at it just bc it's him, he is *constantly* communicating how he feels and being wholey honest on it. And when people give him that back, he's receptive, ie everytime he pivots his actions with Karen, (from flirt-fighting like they used to, to trying to show how he's useful and what he can offer, to then having a genuine conversation and apology and reflection) it's after they've had communication and honesty in feelings.

Every

Time

And that trend continues to puzzles. He's receptive to puzzles when he's authentic. When the anger and emotion is raw and communicated. He goes with it. He knows something's up, but he's willing to give it a shot bc he sees the honesty under it

He's so *shattered* by the deception, after he layed it out to puzzles in their drive (again, completely open in communication and honest)

And even in their fight, he seems to value those things so much, that these people he doesn't even know, the smg4 crew, need to know the truth. It'll hurt puzzles, and that's a plus bc Wpnz himself is so hurt but he's not letting the act lie. Instead of killing Puzzles and just being done with it, he's intending to lay it all out for these people he doesn't know and doesn't need to tell the truth of the situation to.

He encounters puzzles again before the whole jumping through time thing and does go to end him, bc he got all his feelings out in their fight. (Which btw, when he makes that shot through Puzzles body via sniper toomp, he looks away and goes to walk away seemingly not wanting to see dead puzzles)

But puzzles lives, and Wpnz can see he's trying to do *something* even though he doesn't know what, so now he's chasing after puzzles for an *answer*, with his anger on not having killed the guy driving it and covering everything else

And when puzzles gives him that? Gives him an answer? He *lets him say it*.

Every time with bith puzzles and karen, when they're communicating, being open, he *lets them talk*, and waits until they're done, doesn't interrupt. I think in the total of all conversations he's cut them each off maybe once or twice, in the entirety of talks.

And he seems to expect the same back

Like even though his rage takes over, and he can say things in it, he *regrets* it, and does things differently.

Out of the entire main cast, he is literally one of the best communicators, he just doesn't always express it well and it makes me *sick* in the best way

He expects it back and gets frustrated and angry when he isn't given it, he leads emotionally and not with his head and that's *fascinating*. He wears his heart on his sleeve. Is extremely expressive in face and body language (kudos to the animators you guys have to be masochists for that lmao) and doesn't really bullshit anything. He's shockingly patient until he feels slighted and its genuinely fascinating in what you expect of a character like him.

Watching it slowly it's just so fascinating how he interacts

It's no wonder he got attached to puzzles the way he did, bc puzzles wasn't really putting on an act in the junyard. Like to a degree he was, but he was absolutely just a looser.

And Wpnz, with previous context, was probably endeared by this looser trying to come off as competent, failing, letting him see that and still trying.

Even though we know the context and he doesn't, I can so see how with those values Wpnz was endeared.

And then Puzzles giving him a job, a purpose after he lost everything most likely contributed too

But even in the small interaction after the prison break, were wpnz wants details and is pushing back on puzzles being cagey.

Once the *real* puzzles comes out, with the (half) truth and the emotion that feels genuine, he thinks on it. And then puzzles reaches further and goes "once we do my thing, we can do what you want"

He showed he listened to what wpnz was saying (even if for his own benefit)

and Wpnz responds to that. As he always does

Anyway rant done. I'm so sorry. I have even more thoughts but this post is long enough as it is.

[jaybirdhitman]

Alright reblogging this with my thoughts in Wpnz and Karen bc my god

I think their dynamic and how they're handles is so fascinating and very real, in that both are right and wrong on different points

Karen is 100% correct in wanting to keep her children safe, in wanting to leave the assassin life and move on. And while we don't know the specifics of the before, we see that her and wpnz at least were happy for a time, before they came to a cross roads neither could budge on.

Wpnz is objectively correct in that their job paid in droves, that it would've supported them even if he was the only one in the field (and we see the truth in that, see how much Karen struggles. And tbh, look at Wpnz. Logically what other work could he have done?)

What's so fascinating is in the whole discussing and fight argument, Wpnz is trying to compromise, it's Karen that's completely stonewalling him.

And I love that she isn't villainized for it, bc she's right in how she feels about doing right by her kids, and also doesn't owe Wpnz a chance.

Based on what we've seen of him, I want to say it came down to miss communication between the two. We've seen how protective Wpnz can be (see Toomp) almost rivalling Karen in how they take over thinking what's best. It can be inferred that in the past Wpnz in learning he was gonna be a dad, probably dove headfirst into work to support them yet, but probably also work out his own feelings as we see him do a lot in fighting.

And karen more than likely took it as abandonment if he was gone for long periods of time, not reaching out and getting lost in it. And made the decision that, if he couldn't change and was leaving them, then she'd go first.

I said it in my first post but it's so fascinating to me how Wpnz is the more communicative of the two, at least trying to be in his own way from what we know of him.

He makes pivots and changes once he gets proper feedback, what he views as proper communication.

Like a lot of his actions, like kidnapping his kids are wrong. There's no way around it. even though his intentions are to get the change to meet his kids in an unbiased way via something they enjoy, he's going about it all wrong. But it shows care there even if it's misguided.

And in their argument of the past Wpnz gets frustrated when accused of not carring

Like confronting Karen in "enough is enough". It's one of the few times he cuts her off, when she's insinuating he hurt the kids and he sounds genuinely offended at the idea.

And in that whole interaction, even as he's getting cut off, he stops and lets her talk, he listens to her. Even starting the conversation with complimenting her parenting and the kids. He has respect for her as a person and it shows, even in knowing that she would get to him, get to that room.

Which again is a "right reason, wrong execution" thing. He wants to reconnect, he wants that bond and spent a lot of time finding them. Stalking is wrong and inexcusable, but considering the snapshots we have, this could genuinely just be the only way he knows how to show care considering how hurt he is at being accused otherwise.

But he cared, cared so much that he spent years trying to find them. That's not someone that abandoned the family. He never met Karen with any animosity on her decision until she was throwing accusations at him.

Even in them telling their backstory, show expressive he is in the telling is fascinating. I also love the detail of him clearly being confused in Karen hurridly trying to scew the truth of what they did. He's confused, but doesn't question her decision, he goes with it pretty smoothly. He's absolutely being difficult in his telling, but he still follows her example, but tells it in a way were he's still saying the truth of what happened but just not being specific. I love that detail. That's someone that respects the other, even if not agreeing.

And in the park, when he finally gives her what she needs, no fanfair, no fighting just everything out in the open with an apology, she responds and finally gives him what he's been giving her. Not stonewalling and saying how she feels.

I so genuinely believe that if the kids hadn't wanted to spend time with him Wpnz would've left it at that. Bc Karen acknowledge what he was desperate for her to see, his change, and honest in that it didn't change how she felt.

But getting the kids approval got in his head

Bc they both ended up being of the "one or the other" mindset and not compromise

There's just so much. I'll bullet point little things I noticed when going by frames and that just really nail home these things for me and just what I love about these characters and series

-he's always bending down to the kids level to talk to them

-in the kitchen fight he's mostly in a defensive position, mostly dodging and talking (flirting) and only hitting back to get Karen going or the fight start getting to him

-when he goes to fire the shot from his turrets, he turns up as she comes in to headbutt

-he just feels in general really relaxed around her, like this isn't a real fight

-when the kids peak through the door Karen and Wpnz notice them at the same time, but Wpnz looks at them first, eyes going over first before his head and karen follow

-he's holding her up on his sword as they fight at eye level, and waits until she hops off to switch out

-in the argument taking place in the past house when Karen comes in the door Wpnz has a sad, mournful expression as she talks, only getting frustrated when she says "if you cared you would've left it behind"

-when Karen lets the kids hang with him and says No Weapons, he doesn't pull out any of his, even when in the rockslide. That continues into as he's teaching the triplets about their powers and only has it out once, his chainsaw, with Zack

-In the final fight in the warehouse (this could be an animation thing but going by frames this is what I got) is his shots are following them a little low, not actually aiming at them. Considering how much skill and speed we've been shown he has, I choose to believe that even in anger he didn't truly want to hurt the kids, even subconsciously as he was yelling other stuff in anger

-makes the active choice for that final blow to defend instead of shoot. The gun he has drops as they get closer and he braces instead

[jaybirdhitman]

Long post ahead, but I've had this godamn gunman in my head for weeks now, and I barely see any Analysis on Wpnz' character, which is a shame, so I'm gonna rant about things I noticed and how I feel. I've rewatched it so many times and even took to going frame by frame in some instincaes to see what I could catch.

Obligatory tag for @mochi-bons and @starwardchaos @sin-fork02 as you three have been subjected to my insanity and I dragged you down with me

This will probably be incoherent bc I have so many thoughts about WPNZ and the character they gave him

I'll dive more into Wpnz, Karen and the Kids and that whole situation, and Gunshow separately. This is just about character as a whole

A few of the of the main things I noticed about Wpnz that I want to talk about is that he's constantly adjusting and shifting how he acts or what he does based on feedback he gets, how much he cares and wears those emotions on his sleeve and communicate them (even if poorly), how how much he seems to value honesty.

he continues to still course correct and grow after his defeat by Karen and the kids is one of the big factors I notice

Like one just his consideration of erasing his memories at his lowest is something to talk about. The whole reason he works with Puzzles in the first place.Because you have to really have cared, really be hurt and really regret something to even consider getting rid of it like that.

And I love in that context, of him having flashbacks of his kids and those memories directly having him change his behaviour (see him and Toomp when stealing from Bob) for example, or those memories where he fondly remembers his time with Karen and compared it with Puzzles, that he genuinely reflected on and took seriously, to be able to tell Puzzles to forget it.

To be able to do that is incredible and just showing the feature of Wpnz of being able to take what's essentially feedback and change accordingly, and even though his anger gets the best of him and seems to cover bigger emotions like devastation and hurt is really neat in character writing

And in context to his anger, that al consuming rage he experiences in silence of the cats that has him just shooting with no direction, he never enters that again after.

Wpnz never again enters that all controlling rage again. He gets fucking furious yes, but he's never out of control again which is *fascinating*.He corrected and while still furious, is actually in control.

And instead if just spewing rage words, he's actually trying to communicate what he feels, chases Puzzles down through time to tell the man how he's feeling, completely with the intention of killing him after until Puzzles gives him a genuine apology, and lets Wpnz vent his frustrations and wants to be hit

Which also, what a fucking parallel between the two

Bc I refuse to believe in silence of the cats he was going to kill Karen, especially when it's shown how much he cares about her and his kids. He held that blast for a long time, making a point instead of just killing her. I firmly believe he would've fired to miss like he does later with Puzzles. (And when you go frame by frame, before Zack cuts off his leg, the charge is no longer active, it's not lit to fire)

But at the end of that fight, he lets them get that final hit, he just braces and lets it happen, focusing after the fact instead on how he made them that strong (and it's true) instead of the defeat he was telling about in the throws of hurt and rage

But I firmly think in that last fight with Puzzles, Wpnz saw himself, bc it does parallel what happened with him and Karen.

Puzzles apologizes, means it. They fight and Puzzles is letting him do whatever, completely accepting the last blow.

Wpnz absolutely saw himself in that and that's why he gets angry, bc "gaddamn it we're the fucking same"

And gives puzzles that second chance that Wpnz himself blew

Now, onto Wpnz and his values and just how he acts. Originally with the puzzles betrayal I thought he was so mad bc of the valued friendship (which is a huge factor) but you know what it is? What I get from rewatches?

Communication and honesty. That's what he values

Bc we see it first with Karen. Even though he isn't the best at it just bc it's him, he is *constantly* communicating how he feels and being wholey honest on it. And when people give him that back, he's receptive, ie everytime he pivots his actions with Karen, (from flirt-fighting like they used to, to trying to show how he's useful and what he can offer, to then having a genuine conversation and apology and reflection) it's after they've had communication and honesty in feelings.

Every

Time

And that trend continues to puzzles. He's receptive to puzzles when he's authentic. When the anger and emotion is raw and communicated. He goes with it. He knows something's up, but he's willing to give it a shot bc he sees the honesty under it

He's so *shattered* by the deception, after he layed it out to puzzles in their drive (again, completely open in communication and honest)

And even in their fight, he seems to value those things so much, that these people he doesn't even know, the smg4 crew, need to know the truth. It'll hurt puzzles, and that's a plus bc Wpnz himself is so hurt but he's not letting the act lie. Instead of killing Puzzles and just being done with it, he's intending to lay it all out for these people he doesn't know and doesn't need to tell the truth of the situation to.

He encounters puzzles again before the whole jumping through time thing and does go to end him, bc he got all his feelings out in their fight. (Which btw, when he makes that shot through Puzzles body via sniper toomp, he looks away and goes to walk away seemingly not wanting to see dead puzzles)

But puzzles lives, and Wpnz can see he's trying to do *something* even though he doesn't know what, so now he's chasing after puzzles for an *answer*, with his anger on not having killed the guy driving it and covering everything else

And when puzzles gives him that? Gives him an answer? He *lets him say it*.

Every time with bith puzzles and karen, when they're communicating, being open, he *lets them talk*, and waits until they're done, doesn't interrupt. I think in the total of all conversations he's cut them each off maybe once or twice, in the entirety of talks.

And he seems to expect the same back

Like even though his rage takes over, and he can say things in it, he *regrets* it, and does things differently.

Out of the entire main cast, he is literally one of the best communicators, he just doesn't always express it well and it makes me *sick* in the best way

He expects it back and gets frustrated and angry when he isn't given it, he leads emotionally and not with his head and that's *fascinating*. He wears his heart on his sleeve. Is extremely expressive in face and body language (kudos to the animators you guys have to be masochists for that lmao) and doesn't really bullshit anything. He's shockingly patient until he feels slighted and its genuinely fascinating in what you expect of a character like him.

Watching it slowly it's just so fascinating how he interacts

It's no wonder he got attached to puzzles the way he did, bc puzzles wasn't really putting on an act in the junyard. Like to a degree he was, but he was absolutely just a looser.

And Wpnz, with previous context, was probably endeared by this looser trying to come off as competent, failing, letting him see that and still trying.

Even though we know the context and he doesn't, I can so see how with those values Wpnz was endeared.

And then Puzzles giving him a job, a purpose after he lost everything most likely contributed too

But even in the small interaction after the prison break, were wpnz wants details and is pushing back on puzzles being cagey.

Once the *real* puzzles comes out, with the (half) truth and the emotion that feels genuine, he thinks on it. And then puzzles reaches further and goes "once we do my thing, we can do what you want"

He showed he listened to what wpnz was saying (even if for his own benefit)

and Wpnz responds to that. As he always does

Anyway rant done. I'm so sorry. I have even more thoughts but this post is long enough as it is.

[jaybirdhitman]

I've been drawing Wpnz a lot, so I took a break and took a crack at Puzzles

I like the CaV colours, but i like the Original smg4 chromatic pallet, so I tried to replicate the Grey feel with the new purple. And balance the single red of his Bowtie and making it a colour pattern on his clothes. Take him, this was so hard for me for some reason

[jaybirdhitman]

I'm just having fun here

[jaybirdhitman]

Have my doodles. He's become my go to for just drawing now so I put him in outfits and added even more stuff. He needs to get a job and get out of my head

[jaybirdhitman]

Another wip bc it came to me. The most dramatic breakup in history/silly

They fascinate me greatly

Also why are the cartoony characters so hard for me to draw

[jaybirdhitman]

Morning art! I was not rendering this, trying to do police lights in the back was difficult as it is. Ya get so soft basic lighting

I like to think he pulled off stealing the bike flawlessly and then immediately crashes it

[jaybirdhitman]

Wip, I may be obsessed

[jaybirdhitman]

Oh my god yall are so sweet! I didn't expect so much love for my Wpnz art!

Well I do intend on drawing him more so I made myself a lil ref sheet with my take on him, and I figured I'd share it since you all seem to like it so much

I toned down the gold accents and I think it futs really well being this darker shade while is eyes and teeth still stand out.

Hehe this was very fun

[jaybirdhitman]

A simple one today of me testing things and colour, bc some of his pallet annoys me greatly

-Silver on his clothes is replaced with gold to balance with all the metal tones (buckles, teeth of the jacket, exc)

-the snaggle tooth is pronounced bc it means so much to me

-fur on the interior of the headgear flaps for a diff texture (and looks better imo)

-added "piercings" in matching gold to keep the metal ends from blending with his face, and give him more gold for when the jacket is off

-brow slit bc it feels his vibe

-tie is actually a tie just with knife colours

Here's the not angry eye version too bc I feel it blends well

[jaybirdhitman]

He's finally complete!!

I love him a healthy amount I swear

[jaybirdhitman]

Todays progress. Rip my hand. Have the dad failure

[jaybirdhitman]

Morning update, I'm running on spite and he has his dumb face now

[jaybirdhitman]

New hyperfixation unlocked, I fell down the rabbit hole thanks to the announcement for CaV and @/starteas art and now I'm here.

Don't ask my why I chose to do this for drawing Wpnz for the first time, I'm insane. Wip be upon ye

[jaybirdhitman]

Long time no post. I had a really busy end of year and have been working on a personal project of mine that's sort of taken priority over my fic. So I'm happy to introduce my original story I'm working on, Garden of Lost Souls, with a cover art for it. Yippee!!!

With my main character sheets under the cut

Seraphina (Saph), Nikolai (Niko), Zuri (Mal), Casey, Khalifa, Asher and Lori in order

[jaybirdhitman]

Some arts of the band. Umbra's creation day (birthday) already passsed, but Twi and Aura's is coming up. So I'm releasing all three.

[jaybirdhitman]

So there's this guy-

Anyway have my version of Tenna

I saw the concept of "what if diff decorations changed his appearance and I blacked out. Take this gothic-inspired Tenna were I tried to keep a similar colour scheme and feel.

I have other versions below the cut I liked

Coloured and black line no back ground, and coloured line art and my shadows/highlights that made a cool effect