Rattivik

'Sup? The name's Rattivik, and I'm an autistic Brony/Eddhead, and an Edd-pic crossover/Edd-venture enthusiast. I have a bizarre tendency to connect completely unrelated things due to my superpowers.

[rattivik]

Thinking about how Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss are basically just (man)children's cartoons disguised as media intended for adults made by and for edgy immature millennials who were raised on the absolute worst sides of Tumblr. It's literally the most prime definition of "millennial core" in the worst, most derogatory way imaginable.

Viv's online history and her perception of even the most mild forms of criticism speak for themselves and literally reinforce my conclusion.

[rattivik]

Does anybody else really like Paul and Pat and wish they appeared in the series again just one last time? I love them so very much, they mean a whole lot to me.

I love them both dearly, but I am a little more leaning towards Paul. Just look at him. Look at him go:

[rattivik]

A throwback to my fisherman Tom concept; what if Tord decided to get into literal piracy instead of the army, and ended up becoming some sort of pirate captain sailing the seas surrounding Britain and his native Norway? Tom would likely hate stumbling across him because he would be irritated by his pretentious imitation of pirate talk and think his eyepatch and hook prosthesis (instead of the commonly-depicted post-crash robot arm) looked goofy.

Instead of the giant robot, he could have built a giant flying Viking ship as a reference to his Norwegian heritage.

[rattivik]

You should learn how to draw <3

I actually can draw! Not sure if this is meant to be encouraging or derogatory (I apologize) — I may not be the best, but but there are some examples of my art:

[rattivik]

My Edd and Tord designs for my original worldbuilding project, Dojo: Bizarro World Eddventure! and its spin-off, Howlat's Trotting Castle, commissioned from @/bizisajerk on Instagram.

Their full names are EmmEDDin Atashdagh and Torch Fenrir Welraven, and they've got a bit of an arch-nemesis dynamic going on.

Although Edd is Azerbaijani in my world, Tord's Norwegian heritage remains untouched (with the exception of some additional Icelandic motifs). I've always liked the idea of Tord wearing camo pants and being more pirate/Viking-inspired to reflect his Norwegian heritage. It's why he has hair "horns" in my world, since Vikings are often mistakenly depicted as having had horned helmets. Although untrue, it's too fun of a concept to ignore. His hair "horns" are also meant to resemble canine/wolf ears, considering his role in the lore.

Tord's position as the leader of a large "army" is still a thing, which is why he often challenges Edd to various battles, as a way to ensure that he remains a good leader to his people. He serves as a bit of a mentor figure to Edd, who in turn serves as a big brother/mentor figure to his adopted siblings and apprentices, Briar Barbthorn and Berta Windy Swampmellow.

Matt and Tom are obviously also members of the main cast, and they continue to represent British heritage. Matthew Hatter Mirrorshards is an illusionist who spends his time travelling between different dimensions, and Tom Wellbridge is a crafty inventor and alchemist who had lost his family in a tragic accident involving wizards.

[rattivik]

Some of my other demon designs: Once-ler-y Asmodeus (top left), Cerberus/Fenrir (top right), Leviathan (bottom left) and Beelzebub (bottom right)

None of these characters are related to the Hellaverse in any shape or form, but I still often compare them with Vivienne Medrano's versions of the same mythological figures. Designs by me; art by brdte3 on Instagram and Bugphibian/Xularo.

[rattivik]

My redesigned and rewritten version of Edd from an original project, Dojo: Bizarro World Eddventures!

(Art/assets by: @/obvdrc, my cousin, @unk._49, wizardcheeseburger, and Bugphibian/Xularo, in that order, from top to bottom)

Some fun facts about this guy:

Edd is supposed to resemble Edd Gould (the creator of Eddsworld) more closely — his character is meant to be a tribute to Mr. Gould, who inspired me greatly.

He is of Azerbaijani descent, and his nickname, Edd, is a shortened version of his full name, NizamEDDin.

He has a large biological family, but the majority of his relatives are believed to be deceased; their actual status is unknown to anyone, but they are essentially trapped in a limbo realm, stuck between worlds.

Because his family members went missing, Edd was orphaned at a young age, and forced to take full control of his family's relatively large fire temple located in the mountainous outskirts of Windy City.

His birth was foretold by magicians and fortune tellers because he was born in a "particularly 'lucky' year under a 'lucky' star". According to fortune tellers, his family's loving environment is what made him so naturally talented. You could say he was aura farming the whole time…

Edd is very agile and strong, and is very gifted at various forms of art and martial arts. He enjoys painting on cave walls and rocks in his spare time, and is particularly good at depicting battle scenes. He practices various forms of Eastern and West Asian martial arts, and prefers his bare hands to any weapon.

Because of his special status, he is naturally gifted with manipulating all of the primary four elements. He is more drawn to fire, though, although his personality is more earthy, since he is very mild-mannered and relaxed.

He has adopted a pair of infants, a girl named Berta Windy Swampmellow and a boy named Briar Barbthorn, who grew up to become his apprentices and siblings. He loves them dearly and is very protective of them.

Because he spent the majority of his life isolated within the Burning Mountains under his family's protection, he has poor social skills and feels isolated from everyone. He gets easily overwhelmed in large metropolitan areas and prefers to remain surrounded by his family members and neighboring villagers.

I imagine him as a panda in animal form, mostly because pandas are gentle herbivorous giants, and he also reminds me of Po from the Kung Fu Panda movies, whom I partially based him off of.

[rattivik]

Anybody else into the idea of Tom being a fisherman and owning a bunch of antique marine-themed artifacts and Tord being into firearms because he's into hunting? I like to imagine that the reason why Tord's trademark favorite food is bacon is because he developed a liking for boar meat due to his interest/hobby…

[rattivik]

Glam/Sebastian from Metal Family is NOT a good father.

I don't understand how the majority of the fandom continues to baby and pity Glam after watching this particular episode.

Seriously, just how do you all keep defending this man after watching this scene? What he did here was the textbook definition of bad parenting and emotional abuse!

I don't like the series in general because I considered it to be very poorly written. Glam is not a good person in my eyes, and he kind of reminds me of a certain not-so-nice individual that I used to know. I think Dee is a bad older brother and a very unlikable person, but he's a moody teenager at the end of the day. His insecurities possibly stem from the fact that he is being raised by a manipulative traumatized weirdo and a violent (wo)manchild with severe anger issues… but anyway, let's move on.

I watched the episode in the original Russian dub, and it's even worse in Russian than it is in English. How could you possibly demotivate your own freaking child in such a petty manner using such a tone? "You don't have musical skills, I know you'll fail, but I'll continue to prove that to you by constantly demotivating you throughout the process of being taught something you are clearly very passionate about in a very demeaning tone". The fans are quick to excuse and defend Glam by claiming that he's just mad at the fact that Dee wanted to master guitar in order to impress a girl he liked, which isn't good enough of a reason to assist his own child in mastering something he was interested in.

What a load of garbage.

How the hell is that a valid argument? Is Glam some sort of music guru? I don't understand. The fact that he continues to raise his voice at Dee shortly before telling him that his younger brother is more talented than him when it comes to music is just… horrible. This type of parenting is what causes sibling resentment and rivalry. This is not a normal or okay thing to tell to a teenager — let alone your own child!

Glam growing up in an abusive household does not excuse or justify his behavior with his own children. Being a survivor of abuse does not automatically grant you the pass to abuse other people who had nothing to do with you getting traumatized in the first place!

The fact that he finishes the whole thing by smiling at Dee after humiliating him by angrily telling him that his brother is more talented than him at something he was passionate about is just awful! At least Gustav was being honest about his abuse without sugarcoating it or trying to make it appear motivating. Glam's tendency to just do this to people while smirking at them the whole time is atrocious. And the fact that he tries to gaslight Dee as he leaves his cabinet by going, "oh, and by the way, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings, don't be angry at me!" is just… ugh…

Feel free to debate me in the comments, if you wish — I am interested in hearing alternative perspectives on this particular sequence.

[rattivik]

Inspector Gadget x Stolas, anyone…? No…?

A symptom of autism that I rarely see being discussed: becoming obsessed with different characters from completely unrelated media and somehow connecting them together while also tying them to your inner world!

Yeah, something I rarely, if ever, admit online is that I'm actually kind of into the whole Pooh's Adventures thing (of course… I'm diagnosed with autism, after all), but only if it's done right in terms of design and writing. It can work! I'll prove it… one day… someday…

(Art by: Bugphibian/Xularo (left) and Hammerr (right))

[rattivik]

(Open to critique) My take on the mythological demon Stolas, the titular lead protagonist from a series of mine titled Howlat's Trotting Castle:

(The following character has no relation to the Hellaverse or Vivziepop. The character was designed and written by myself, but the following artwork was commissioned from bishopony and brdte3, respectively)

And yes, this Stolas is female.

Please feel free to share your thoughts in this design in the comments. Don't be afraid to ask questions!

[rattivik]

Another thing about Helluva Boss/Stolas that's been bothering me since forever: they should have made this guy Moloch instead of Paimon.

Why make this guy Paimon, like, the Paimon? You could have easily used Paimon to design a camel demon (I don't think we've seen any ungulate demons outside of the Sloth Ring, but the Sloth demons are almost exclusively goats, with the sole exception of Belphegor herself, who is a sheep), and have this guy be Moloch.

Why Moloch?

Because Moloch is a malevolent entity associated with both owls and pride (the latter being the ring that Stolas is supposed to be from). Not to mention, his entire thing is child sacrifice — something we technically see Paimon do with Stolas, by sacrificing his destiny to maintain political ties (and being a bad and out of touch father in general). This could also be an interesting reference to the Bohemian Grove and their owl effigy/symbolism that is often believed to be an esoteric reference to Moloch, or a joke about him having too many children whose names he just continues to forget because of how much he sacrifices them to everyone, either literally or metaphorically.

[rattivik]

Something I find very infuriating about Helluva Boss' Stolas:

What is even the point of having real-life demons from mythology in your setting if you're just going to completely ignore their existing lore?

I'm Muslim, which means that I avoid blasphemous, profane and vulgar media like Helluva Boss whenever I encounter it — but having watched a lot of Hellaverse/Vivziepop-critical videos featuring clips of Stolas from the series, I can safely say that Vivziepop's take on the mythological demon is exceptionally atrocious. I say this as someone who actually believes in the existence of demons (which are referred to as malevolent djinns in Islam). I'll be honest — I have no idea whether or not the demons listed in grimoire where Stolas originated from are actually real or entirely fabricated, but it is true that a lot of demons/djinn do teach humans various skills involving esoteric knowledge — which brings me to my next point…

Lore-accurate Stolas is defined by his exceptional knowledge about astronomy/celestial bodies, herbs and precious stones, yet this aspect of his character is rarely, if ever, brought up/referenced in and throughout Helluva Boss. All we've seen so far is his father, Paimon (whose character is a mess from a mythological perspective), tasking him with "watching over the celestial bodies" (whatever that's supposed to mean) during a flashback, and him owning various carnivorous plants. He's not really… Stolas outside of being an owl demon prince…

Why aren't any of his special powers related to celestial bodies or various herbs? Why is he somehow capable of turning demons into stone with his gaze — something attributed to the mythological cockatrice, who has nothing to do with Stolas (outside of being a half-bird creature)?

Stolas doesn't even act remotely close to an actual owl, which are solitary nocturnal animals that do not enjoy being around humans much. Overall, his character is a total and utter mess of a character.

[lyricamaxing]

And bruh u cant even tell that hes an owl other than maybe his beak or talons. Owls look like this, they are stout little guys with fat heads and big wings, and Stolas.. doesn’t even have that lmao?? He doesnt even have the big beady eyes? Like okay vivzie give us nothing

[rattivik]

Exactly! Owls are meant to be adorably round borbs with fluffy long feet and sharp talons. A skinny Tumblr-esque owl is an oxymoron in itself.

[rattivik]

A few more interesting details and facts about Ayesha "Anthony" Hammurabia, my Eddsworld OC and the main protagonist of the fan-made spin-off series Dynamite Termite Antventures (that I'm thinking of eventually adapting into a playable demo!) that I haven't mentioned in my last post featuring her (you can find it here):

Anthony's design is meant to contrast with Tord's; her hair "horns" are meant to resemble that of a goat's, while Tord's are supposed to look similar to canine wolf ears, reflecting their predator/prey arch-nemesis dynamic. Because Anthony is Azerbaijani (a small Southwest Asian country located in the Caucasus Mountains), she is based on a mountain goat. This is because bovids (bulls and sheep in particular)have a history of being national symbols of my country, Azerbaijan, since medieval times. Goats are bovids, and although they appear less commonly throughout Azerbaijani cultural symbols, ungulates in general have a rather significant meaning in the local culture.

Her hair "horns" are also a reference to a type of carpet traditionally weaved in Azerbaijan! The carpets are literally called "Horn carpets" — and they feature patterns related to horned animals that symbolize all sorts of positive qualities!

Anthony is meant to represent a free thinker (as opposed to the majority of people in Britain, who are blind to the ongoing invasion by the Red Army), hence her role as a goat. She's based on Judas goats trained to lead cattle and sheep to particular destinations. This symbolizes her leadership qualities and intelligence.

Anthony was labeled a hazardous bioweapon by the authorities after being purposely infected by Tord; because of this, she is wanted for being a "public threat" and for crimes she was framed for and never committed. This forced her to discontinue her studies at the University of Birmingham that she worked really hard to apply to.

Anthony contrasts Tord's choleric and trigger-happy nature with her melancholic/phlegmatic pacifistic approach. Because she has bolts attached to her forehead that connect to the antennas hidden underneath her hair "horns" in order to lessen Tord's impact on her behavior and prevent him from tracking her down. Because of her immense immune system and physical strength, she survived being shot and stabbed multiple times (mostly by Paul and Pat), and somehow managed to survive and coexist with the rabies virus, which is always fatal for mammals.

Tord is meant to symbolize an alpha wolf pack leader lead by his hunger (for power and world domination). He is intelligent and strategic similarly to a wolf, and survives through leading a pack dependent on him for survival. His hatred for Anthony outweighs the hatred he has for Tom.

Speaking of Tom, he is the only member of the main trio who feels somewhat sorry for Anthony. Although Anthony is not affiliated or familiar with any of the three boys, she greatly admires Edd, and wishes he was her mentor and friend. Based on her observations of the gang, she finds Matt very charismatic and lovable, and thinks Tom is rather trustworthy. Edd is not very eager about Ant, since he still trusts Tord and believes she wants to slander his name and cause havoc across the country, believing the allegations, since he is still in contact with Tord, who had successfully manipulated him into perceiving Anthony as a threat.

While Tord is more of a gadgeteer genius inventor, Anthony is a nurse specializing in working with all sorts of biological matter.

Anthony is capable of gliding through the air similarly to a flying squirrel. She had spent a decent amount of time observing chiropterans (particularly microbats), and although she is bad at physics due to being a humanitarian sciences major with a passion for independent journalism and medicine, she is quite logical and is a pattern recognizer, making her quick to learn.

Because Anthony is feared by most humans due to her status as a hazardous bioweapon and a criminal, she spends most of her time bonding with animals.

Her favorite animals are avians/birds, rabbits, ungulates, primates and marsupials. She is an amateur self-taught horse rider, and she is capable of communicating with animals through tone and gestures, which is why she is successful at riding other animals such as giant bats, ostriches, cattle, swine, kangaroos and elephants.

Anthony really likes lactose products, such as milky iced coffee and cheese, hence her nickname, "mammal".

Anthony is scared of fire, but she is quite good at utilizing it.

Anthony owns a bazooka and a motorbike.

[rattivik]

Something I find very infuriating about Helluva Boss' Stolas:

What is even the point of having real-life demons from mythology in your setting if you're just going to completely ignore their existing lore?

I'm Muslim, which means that I avoid blasphemous, profane and vulgar media like Helluva Boss whenever I encounter it — but having watched a lot of Hellaverse/Vivziepop-critical videos featuring clips of Stolas from the series, I can safely say that Vivziepop's take on the mythological demon is exceptionally atrocious. I say this as someone who actually believes in the existence of demons (which are referred to as malevolent djinns in Islam). I'll be honest — I have no idea whether or not the demons listed in grimoire where Stolas originated from are actually real or entirely fabricated, but it is true that a lot of demons/djinn do teach humans various skills involving esoteric knowledge — which brings me to my next point…

Lore-accurate Stolas is defined by his exceptional knowledge about astronomy/celestial bodies, herbs and precious stones, yet this aspect of his character is rarely, if ever, brought up/referenced in and throughout Helluva Boss. All we've seen so far is his father, Paimon (whose character is a mess from a mythological perspective), tasking him with "watching over the celestial bodies" (whatever that's supposed to mean) during a flashback, and him owning various carnivorous plants. He's not really… Stolas outside of being an owl demon prince…

Why aren't any of his special powers related to celestial bodies or various herbs? Why is he somehow capable of turning demons into stone with his gaze — something attributed to the mythological cockatrice, who has nothing to do with Stolas (outside of being a half-bird creature)?

Stolas doesn't even act remotely close to an actual owl, which are solitary nocturnal animals that do not enjoy being around humans much. Overall, his character is a total and utter mess of a character.

[rattivik]

I like to think that the reason why Tord's accent and personality were so different in the Legacy finale was because he was lobotomized during his years in the military.

He probably became convinced that he was actually Russian all along, and was so severely brainwashed that he forgot what his old friends truly meant to him.

But that's just my personal headcanon.

(Also, I like to imagine that Tord is actually a Kola Norwegian — hence his accent and interest in communism, since he would have been raised during Soviet times)

[obvdrc]

Eddie, my recent raffle submission and winner from @owlgulje

Eddie beat the crap out of every other contestant of my savage Undead Tournament recently and was awarded a free low poly for their pure brutality.

[rattivik]

Look at him go! If any of you guys are familiar with Eddie or his lore, then you're probably as amused as I am by the fact that he managed to knock out every other challenger. I raised him well…