if in s5 they don't have Max and REAL Billy somehow meet up in Vecna's consciousness to hash out their sibling relationship, allowing them both a crumb of closure and Max to start to forgive herself and heal from the trauma of Billy's sacrifice
then
what
was
the
point???
And to tie it even further into the plot, Billy knowing a weakness of Vecna's from being cognizant inside for over a year, from poking around and getting tossed through memories, like how Nancy was able to see into Henry's childhood in s4.
and after a time of Vecna not realizing what they're doing because Billy and Max are using a lot of the same codes as they did in California when trying to hide what was really going on from Neil, he's closing in on them in his mindspace (similar to the watery void that El sometimes uses) and Billy's comforting Max with "it's okay, Max, there's nothing left for me to go back to out there, i'm gone, but you've gotta live, in the end that's all i wanted-" and "i'm ready to go home." before Vecna snuffs him out, through his cruelty actually freeing Billy from the unending torture of the purgatory that all of Vecna's victims face that gives him his strength, and bestowing upon him a proper reward for his final sacrifice.
(and El is able to pull Max out when they put together that she's feebly tapping out a Morse code message of the secret, like Will did while possessed by Vecna in s2.)
Bug-eyed and No Eyed Aliens in Print, Film and Music
What is a Bug-eyed Monster?
From Wikipedia:
‘The bug-eyed monster is an early convention of the science fiction genre. Extraterrestrials in science fiction of the 1930s were often described (or pictured on covers of pulp magazines) as grotesque creatures with huge, oversized or compound eyes and a lust for women, blood or general destruction.’
The trend also made a comeback in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly once supernatural horror was in general considered passé. A notable example would be Invasion Of The Saucer Men (1957):
BEMS even showed up in music, such as the 1958 novelty hit The Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley:
What Rampage 2 Universal Tour Took From The BEM Trope:
The invading alien species in Universal Tour have very large eyes and are highly aggressive, though any sense of having a taste for destruction pales in comparison of the collective Wrecking Crew themselves.
The mutations experienced by Myukus, Noobus and Bigal take the BEM concept even further by merging two large eyes into one enormous cyclopean eye. The eye can be used as an explosive weapon against buildings and vehicles and grows back fairly quickly.
Bigal fits much of the description of the Purple People Eater: one-eyed purple people eating alien (the song is a bit vague as to whether the alien in question is purple itself or merely eats purple people, but most depictions go for having the alien be purple). Bigal and his fellow mutated aliens even show a strong flight capability, fitting the flying aspect of the song as well:
The one thing the extraterrestrial trio lack is the one horn that the alien in the song possesses. This is because they also take some of their design from a more modern alien...
In Space, No One Can Find Your Eyes
In 1979, the world was shocked and terrified by a film simply known as Alien and still continues as a franchise to this day. The original design was created by late artist H.R. Giger and was chosen from a preexisting piece he had made. Like many of Giger’s art, the alien (later known as a Xenomorph) appears to be a combination of mechanical and organic elements (which makes the revelation in more recent films that the species was manufactured make a lot more sense in hindsight). Giger used a real human skull as part of the alien’s head and later series lore would establish that Xenomorphs take on characteristics of the hosts they emerge from (most often, humans).
What Rampage 2 Universal Tour Took from The Alien Franchise
Myukus and the other mutated aliens bares an uncanny resemblance to the Xenomorphs with their bulbous heads, pipe-like back vents and long, thin tails:
The hidden character Noobus bears the most resemblance to the Xenomorphs with its black/dark gray color scheme.
#Repost @ciara • • • • • • My College Dream Has Come True and I’ll cherish this moment forever! What a surreal feeling walking to class everyday, interacting with my classmates, diving into case studies, exploring @Harvard campus and Cambridge! Never stop dreaming. Never stop believing! @HarvardHBS #HBS #BEMS #ciara #inspired https://www.instagram.com/p/ByP3WWxAmCp/?igshid=v3wjgzb4i2uo
a brief perspective on trauma and masculinity and adverse childhood experiences for those who may struggle to understand and characterise billy
today i'm still thinking about this past weekend when my family had a get together for my niece's second birthday. it was a LOVELY day, but as my clumsy ass walked out of my brother's house i tripped on the bottom seal of the door and had to prevent myself from falling flat on my face by inelegantly run-walking through about eight WIDE steps across the slippery, damp, night lawn. and, as my 30 y/o brother helplessly watched me almost fall with my arms full of stuff, he ran after me and exclaimed, (obviously fully in dad mode, with retrospect), "Woah! Are you okay, sweetheart!??" and grabbed my arm to steady me... before realizing what he said and did and got embarrassed and started open mouth laughing at himself for overreacting.
this is the same person, the same angry teenage boy that used to punch holes in the wall.
the same teenage boy who got into fistfights at least once a month and got suspended for, and i'm not kidding, writing "reactive" and "violent" nirvana lyrics on a blackboard in high school.
the same isolated teenage boy who casually made fun of his friends with fully charged words that we would balk at today.
the same angry teenage boy who called me "damien" a la the spawn of satan from "the omen" for at least five years because i was a terrible depressed traumatized kid, too.
the same teenage boy who did bullshit like tip cows and grafitti trains and trade off shooting bbs at/with his twin brother for no reason beyond wanting to be a shitty kid.
the same angry teenage boy who had to spend three weeks in a mental health ward after having a psychological breakdown from his collective trauma as a young adult.
the same teenage boy who wouldn't've done anything but laugh at me if I fell back then.
but he's changed.
as an adult, he was given the opportunity, resources, support, time, and empathy to grow and change.
he knows how to prevent that trauma in his own children, knows how to give them outlets, how to console them when faced with things neither they nor he can change, without lying to or mistreating them (as we were).
to the extent that his fiance, within the past month, messaged my mother a long rambling paragraph in the middle of the night to the effect of, "Thank you so much for raising such a compassionate and patient son. I couldn't imagine being as happy as I am during this rough season of life [re: having three kids under six] with anyone else in the world."
and that's why i, as a person who was also raised with a slew of adverse childhood experiences, family instability, and overarching abuse, care so much about Billy Hargrove; why i've clung onto his character so hard.
i can see so clearly, so many variations, of what he could've been, could've become. how he could've rose above his abuse and understood his traumatic upbringing. how he and max could've become real siblings, real family, who love and care about each other, and continue to bond through their ongoing life experiences.
but that's no longer an option.
---
more applicable information on ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) beneath cut and in linked source for education on this topic:
