So I had a thought about Battat / the green Pippins who pretends to be Mike. I was thinking earlier it might be funny if he were red-green colorblind, hence why he wears green instead of red -- he just doesn't realize he looks any different from the other Pippinses. Then I played a little bit with some actual colorblindness filters, and well...
Full color:
Red-Blindness (Protanopia):
Green-Blindness (Deuteranopia):
Blue-Blindness (Tritanopia):
I think we've got a winner -- the colors for deuteranopia are ALMOST identical!! Of course, your mileage may vary depending on filters / your own actual color vision, but I'm totally headcanoning Battat as having deuteranopia now.
Images taken from the Deltarune Wiki and put through DaltonLens, I specifically used the Vischeck filter!
Because I have to. Gonna break HARD from the general fanon consensus on a few of these...
(VERY long post incoming, you have been warned.)
Mike:
Is not real. There has never been an ACTUAL Mike. (FRIEND, whatever it is, is...something else entirely, clearly much bigger than Mike)
Several people have played the role of Mike over the years, however, including Spamton, and including Tenna himself. The current three are just the latest in the long line, but they aren't aware of past Mikes aside from the fact that, to them, "Mike" has always existed.
The best way to describe the REAL Mike is indeed as Tenna's imaginary friend, like Battat suggested, originally someone he'd conjure up to talk to when he was lonely and stressed, though it's...gotten a little (or a lot) more complicated than that over the years. WEIRD things tend to happen when you're a reality-warping magical being who's grown to be your own Dark World's supreme ruler, capable of reshaping things around you to your will with little more than a thought, and whenever his orders just get done on their own Tenna likes to attribute it to Mike, and other TV Worlders follow suit, not having any clue whether it's real or not either. (Naturally this INFURUATES Battat to no end!! What do you MEAN things just happen on their own and everyone else is fine with that?!) Tenna often takes care of most of "Mike"'s less reality-warpy duties himself, though, without any pretense.
Sometimes Tenna also attracts people to him who'd make good future Mikes, whether intentional or not...
(Battat was an intentional Mike Hire. The other two were just a pleasant surprise.)
When Tenna acts as Mike (rare nowadays but it does still happen, even when he has a fake Mike or three) he conceals his appearance too, but with lighting / camera tricks and sizeshifting, NOT with a costume.
In fact, I feel like the costumes are specifically for Tenna. Everyone else just sees a normal Zapper, Shadowguy, and miscolored Pippins doing their assigned tasks, blending in seamlessly with the rest of the stagehands, and it's only when they need to attend to Tenna's needs directly / in private that they break out the costumes and get in character.
Battat (and Pippinses in general):
Battat's a trained, actually pretty gifted actor -- he's been on the stage in some capacity since a young age. However, he's mostly a THEATER actor, getting signed on to be in one of Tenna's shows was his very first taste of the camera! (And with doing more than one take, huge perfectionist.)
Before working for Tenna he did a lot of shows in the Card Kingdom and small-time community theater in the Purple Cliffs, and until Mike Duties took up all his time he enjoyed catching the occasional show, in the audience rather than on the stage.
Is also a trained alto / countertenor singer, and is VERY good! Most of his acting experience is musicals, and he indeed often sings and whistles showtunes to himself while he works, and to Tenna on request.
Can shift his voice from one accent to another easily; all he has to do is listen to someone speak for a little while and he can mimic them. He CAN do impressions for comedy purposes, but before he finds a new use for this skill in "impersonating" "Mike" it just a last resort to him, when he can't find work acting or singing.
(He's actually got a natural Southern / Appalachian US accent, due to originally being from a remote part of the Card Kingdom, but hides it most of the time to fit in better.)
Overall not much of a gambler or money fiend like the other Pippinses, but every now and then it still slips in. Battat can be impulsive (though not NEARLY as bad as Pluey), is TERRIBLE with spending money, and even when in Mike Mode he can't help but let a couple dice puns slip through while his motor mouth runs.
While Pippinses in general are pretty universally addicted to gambling (Battat aside), it's VERY easy for them to get addicted to things in general. Battat straight-up gets withdrawal symptoms when he can't have caffeine, and in a lot of ways the Mike thing can be considered an addiction as well...
Even Battat is hard-wired to get the ultimate thrill from winning a jackpot, though, or making a huge discovery. For a Pippins a cash payout is better than sex and drugs combined, a high that they're always itching to get more of.
Actually oldest of the Mike trio, isekai'd from Card Kingdom to TV World at age 19 (he's 28-29 now but EVERYONE assumes he's younger, since he doesn't look OR act his age). His parents are still there and he misses them greatly -- occasionally he'd receive letters, couriered by other Pippinses carried between the two Dark Worlds, from them that he cherishes above all else, but as no one's moved between the classroom and the Dreemurr house recently he's been cut off. They were very interested in his acting career, pulling strings for the kid behind the scenes and hoping he'd someday entertain the Kings themselves rather than turn into yet another gambler, and Battat at first sees a little of them in Tenna, before the Boss Crush hits him...
He's red-green colorblind (specifically has deuteranopia), hence his green hue instead of the normal red. He also keeps accidentally dressing Tenna in green (thankfully the boss doesn't mind a little variety every once in a while!), and honestly believes beyond a doubt that broccoli and lettuce are red and that the trees in Card Kingdom were green (which is NOT HELPED by Tenna agreeing with him that trees are absolutely green...in the Light World). He has no idea there's anything wrong with his color vision, some people are just super weird about red and green to him and act like they're completely different when they look so similar! It's crazy! The other Pippinses are ALL wearing green like he is! They're all gotta be pulling a prank on him, right? RIGHT?!
(He's a little paranoid on top of his other Issues.)
Has always had a curiosity streak, though it never ballooned into full-on conspiracy theorist until recently. With TV World being so much more aware of the true nature of the Lightners (thanks to Tenna's influence) than Card Kingdom, a LOT of Battat's old questions on the topic, and how he could just be plucked from one world and dropped into another, have since been answered, but now they're replaced with a LOT more...
He had a phase when he first began working for Tenna where he spied on him trying to figure out just what the hell the guy's deal is, before latching specifically onto the Mike element. Hence why he has so much detailed knowledge about his boss!
Has a little audio training to complement the singing, and DEFINITELY knows his way around a microphone! While he lets Jongler and Pluey deal with the bulk of the backstage work he insists on doing most of the sound mixing himself.
Don't. EVER. Call him "Batty." Or especially not "Batshit." (Even if he kind of deserves it sometimes)
Random general Pippins one, their claws are actually double-jointed -- they're surprisingly good at gripping things, which is good since they've only got three fingers to work with!
Unlike Rudinns and Hathys, Pippinses served under all four kings back in the Card Kingdom. Diamonds are by far the most common (since money), then Spades (SUPREME rule-breakers), then Clubs (the court Battat belonged to), then finally Hearts. It was common for Pippinses to decorate their ponchos with pins or embroidery to represent their suit (or in the case of Spades, wear shirts that flare underneath to give the trademark Spade silhouette); this practice has since fallen out of favor in TV World, though they still keep the ponchos as a reminder of where they came from (and Battat still wears a little Clubs pin on his tie underneath his).
Jongler (and Zappers in general):
A VCR remote rather than TV, and has a thing for movies fitting that. They never miss studio movie night! They've also got very limited fast-forward (useful when Battat gets on a tangent) and rewind abilities, in addition to the usual power control, but can't do volume at all.
Actually has ambitions of being on stage themself, even if that's something that rarely ever happens in TV World, with Zappers being so heavily typecast as guards and background workers. The problem is...they are a TERRIBLE actor. Worse than you'd think. In a way, they mostly got hired by Tenna out of pity, and there's a clause in their contract that their mouth has to stay shut while the cameras are rolling (though, for once Tenna fucked up -- Jongler doesn't HAVE a mouth so they can technically still say whatever! When they remember to do so.)
(Consequently, they DO NOT get along with the other studio Zappers, who all see Jongler as turning their back on them for fifteen minutes of fame. They tend to avoid the water coolers, and stick close to Battat and Pluey instead, since they're pretty much all Jongler's got...)
Grew up very poor with a single dad, who worked night security and was almost never home, and may or may not still have a little abandonment thing going on that gets worse at night.
They're originally from the Watery Basin. Yes, a certain Lightner (Kris) actually lost a remote in the bathroom...
Their dreams of performing run deep -- Jongler's got a very specific memory of their dad taking them as a young remote into the city to see a marching band travelling circus, and were entranced by the clowns, magicians, and...a certain TV-headed dancer. Needless to say, Tenna's also a pretty big inspiration for them, and at first they have to resist the temptation to squeal and beg for an autograph every time they see him around the studio.
They can dance surprisingly well! Often cuts a rug with Pluey during downtime.
Is actually only a few months younger than Battat! But everyone assumes they're the older one, because they actually act like it. They do tend to be the most responsible of the Mike trio by far, level-headed and organized, and usually the first one the others go to when they need help or just a shoulder to cry on (or a soundboard for complaining about Tenna's incessant demands).
They're just super gentle, not at all like the intimidating presence Zappers tend to project. A lot of times they're the one reminding Battat to eat or putting him to bed, and caring for all the cats (including Pluey).
Very much an early riser, meaning they're usually the one who has to deal with Battat after pulling an all-nighter.
Even if they're a lousy actor they don't necessarily need to act to be the muscle of the Mike team! They handle the bulk of the lights and props, and just have an uncanny ability to be in exactly the right place at the right time, meaning they're most often called upon to handle emergencies -- they are actually one of the very, very few people in the studio strong enough to lift and carry Tenna even at his full size, useful for technical difficulties onstage!
(It's not just a Jongler thing either, Zappers in general are pretty dang strong, but it's all concentrated in their lower body, giving them some CRAZY jump height and surprising speed! Don't race them, you'll lose.)
Genuinely loves cowboys, and anything Western. They actually think Battat's (real) accent is amazing, and secretly practice it themself, though it sounds a little weird on top of their own accent...
Also a total horse girl (gender-neutral). They have a thing for pony-taming games and novels, and oddly enough is usually the one to accompany the Pippinses to the horse track (Battat goes along reluctantly, but it's just not Pluey's scene at all). They never bet on the horses, though, they just like to watch them run.
But, because Jongler's just bizarrely lucky and Battat's bizarrely UNlucky, Battat will usually go ahead and put a few Points on their favorite horses, since they almost always win! This grift may or may not be funding the whole Mike operation, since Tenna has yet to actually issue his right-hand cowboy cat microphone a paycheck.
While most Darkners can actually see well beyond the usual spectrum of (anti-)light into ultraviolet, Zappers along with most electronic Darkners (including Tenna, Queen, and even SCC and the Addisons to a degree) see into the infrared spectrum instead! But, only Zappers naturally give off IR light via the bulbs on their heads, using it to detect each others' presence and send rudimentary messages.
That said, though? Jongler has a HORRIBLE time remembering what the different lights mean (their memory's not the greatest overall), and so kind of sees that telltale infrared light as something to AVOID, sticking closer to their few non-Zapper friends.
It's considered very, very rude to push a Zapper's buttons without permission. But if you do ask nicely enough they'll usually grant it.
Pluey! (and Shadowguys in general)
Catboy. SUCH a catboy. An actual furry, and goes to conventions in full suit.
I definitely subscribe to the headcanon he made all three Mike costumes; he's just good with costumes in general, and helps out backstage in the wardrobe department when not on camera or Mike-ing (it's a Special Interest for him).
Related, his Mike suit is indeed one of his old fursuits, that he altered for the purpose. But he wears a newer one to cons. (NOT around the studio, though, since Battat's worried it's too similar and can ruin their scheme...)
LOVES performing in costume, actually got started fursuiting by playing his high school mascot (Pluey is the only one of these three theater kids who can name a Sport). He's tried out over and over to be a costumed character on Tenna's kids shows, but never managed to land a role.
Like most Shadowguys he can't speak real words, and primarily communicates using sign language. Most TV Worlders can understand Shadowguys' signing just fine (though the Pippinses can sometimes still struggle), but only Shadowguys really understand their own "speech". Pluey doesn't have to suppress his voice much as Mike, though, since he's just naturally very soft-spoken and tactiturn, but once the other two get him going he'll honk and sign up a storm!
Also another general Shadowguy thing, since they're Weird: since he's only a silhouette there's a few details to Pluey only discernable by touch, like the patchy little beard he's been trying to grow.
Shadowguys can also blend into shadows with ease, literally able to transport themselves short distances through them, and see in the dark. Very attuned to darkness, and Pluey's bit of a night owl with it, working late shifts and often staying up with Battat when he's close to a breakthrough at 3AM.
Has a bad habit of bringing home pets; when he was young he used to surprise his family with animals of all varieties, their home practically a zoo, and most of the Mikes' present-day cats were former strays adopted by Pluey.
Actually has a bunch of older brothers (youngest child of five), and two dads! (Almost all Shadowguys are male unless transfem). His brothers are all decently famous actors and musicians, meaning there's a lot of pressure to keep up, but no real sibling rivalries at all. He's absolutely told them about his Mike antics and ALL about Battat and Jongler.
Overall kind of chaotic and flighty, very VERY impulsive and prone to getting into trouble (Battat and Jongler usually bail him out of it), and also the youngest of the trio, about three years younger than the other two. Can be a little ditzy at times, though not quite to Jongler's level. (Battat swears that someday Pluey is going to get the other two killed, or at least fired.)
No concept of personal space. At all. None. The guy's a hugger.
The only one who doesn't actually look up to Tenna in any way. But still tries his best to be "Mike", if only because he enjoys the costume! It really is the role he's always dreamed of (minus working for a TV-headed manchild of course. But Pluey eventually decides Tenna's not SO bad, once he spends a little time with him and gives him a sympathetic ear to talk into, and to pet.)
Actually CANNOT play the saxophone at all. Pluey can do a few other instruments, mostly strings and a little guitar, but wind instruments and especially sax elude him. But he CAN dance, and very well!
It also extends to his voice, sadly, with it often coming out squealed or distorted; another reason Pluey doesn't talk much.
Is secretly one of the few Shadowguys without animal ears at all -- even his brothers all have the bunny ears. He's ashamed of it, keeping his hat pretty much glued to his head as much as possible whenever he's not in costume.
But...Jongler and Battat eventually get him a kitty ear headband, since he deserves it. ;v;
He can absolutely purr. No one is sure how or why.
How TV World works:
OKAY SO. This is a WEIRD Dark World compared to what we've seen in the other three chapters, but what makes the most sense to me is that it's not ALL TV World, just Tenna's studio and its immediate surroundings. The actual Dark World inside the Dreemurr's house is BIG, bigger than even Cyber World, and extends FAR beyond the studio's walls, but definitely not its influence; Tenna's on every single screen, after all, and mass media's a powerful force.
Much of the Dark World surrounding TV World is dotted with small communities but with vast distances between them. These areas vary dramatically based on the area of the Light World house they represent, kind of like miniature interconnected Dark Worlds of their own, with that one Shuttah giving us the Purple / Couch Cliffs (most likely living room area though I also think it could include the stairs, mixed together via weird interdimensional metaphysics, with the studio green room next door clearly being Kris and Asriel's room. Closest to TV World and the most populated), Metal Desert, Frozen Waste (both kitchen, oven and fridge respectively, I like to think very rural and agrarian), and Watery Basin (I'd assume kitchen sink, but I also think it could be the bathroom/tub, very industrial but run-down and barely held together after a certain Bath Bomb Incident). There's others too, further out from TV World, but the majority of Tenna's employees come from these areas.
Overall, the climate of TV World and the surrounding Wastes is cold and tundra-ish, with the exception of the desert -- it was a little more temperate in the past, but as people left and the Dreemurr family grew more strained much of the warmth left their home, chilling its Dark World. There's usually a permanent dusting of "snow" on the ground, though it's actually made of literal dust, and stardust dropping from the always-visible stars in the sky.
Those Purple Cliffs are also no joke, they get TALL, and at their peaks you can actually almost touch those stars...
Even before Tenna took over the airwaves entertainment was pretty highly valued, with travelling shows and circuses common in the Wastes; a lot of people would travel over the vast distances by tagging along so as not to lose their way, and maybe participate in a show or two with whatever talents they had. Tenna actually got his first audiences as a dancer in a number of these troupes, until he broke away with some fresh new ideas of his own for how to capture the spotlight!
(I feel like Seam also performed with these as a magician, before they got left in the Card Kingdom...)
Nowadays, with Tenna and his studio the center of everything, it's common for Darkners to make their way to TV World in search of fame, or at least fortune -- there's little work to do outside of entertainment, and it can be desperate to make a living otherwise. The most common way to earn a paycheck is literally by being a contestant on Tenna's game shows, signing yourself away via his contract and taking home whatever Points you earn.
I've headcanoned this to an extent about all the different Dark Worlds but in TV World I can absolutely see there being some significant Time Weirdness going on between it and the Light World -- Tenna measures time by the Light World (he's got a good view of a clock hanging in the living room across from him), but in his Dark World a day lasts 30+ hours, giving him a lot more broadcasting time to work with! He can start an hour-long special at 6:00, then tape a half-hour game show at 6:30 and a live news broadcast at 6:45, easily. The downside is that, all of his employees (including the Mikes) also have to work on a 30+ hour schedule alongside him...
The Pippinses canonically being immigrants to this world is FASCINATING to me, especially thinking of the different ways they've avoided turning to stone. I'm definitely not the first to headcanon they're a very tight-knit community in TV World, but they've also contributed to it a lot themselves, MAKING it a place they can fit in -- a number of casinos have popped up in the Wastes, Dark Candy is now a common treat from the trees they've planted around the Purple Cliffs, and they were the ones who introduced Tenna to gatcha games, in addition to seeking out and signing contracts with him as leverage to prove they belong.
The rather uncanny level of Light World awareness that TV Worlders show isn't something that's common at all in Dark Worlds. Most Darkners are actually encouraged NOT to think too hard about what they are in the Light World, what their purposes are and how best to fulfill them, to avoid exactly what's going on with Ralsei and Tenna. But, because Tenna can literally see the Light World through his screen and even show it off to others, the TV Worlders are much more in tune with the Light World and the Dreemurr family, and of their own nature. It's pretty much the only Dark World where a Darkner is even free to REBEL against their original purpose if they choose, like a laptop becoming a Queen or a power strip becoming a toy or a TV becoming part of a Lightner family or a spam email becoming a big shot TV star or a Shadowguy becoming a cat or a remote control becoming an actor or even a Pippins being colored green, even if you don't fit in with TV World's other inhabitants you don't have to fear turning to stone.
(HOWEVER. The trade-off is, a lot of this is thanks to its ruler's influence, and Tenna's own unusually-close connection to his favorite Lightners. Wrapping his Dark World so tightly around his finger has made him a lynchpin; if his power should ever weaken too much, or his mental state become too unstable, TV World is QUICK to petrify. Another reason why having a Mike around to keep him happy is very, very important.)
One final headcanon, to end things on a less existentially terrifying note. While Tenna's studio only produces shows for and broadcasts to the Dark World (not just the Dreemurr house either, they tune in as far away as Cyber City), Tenna himself can receive Light World channels. Often, when there's a good movie on one of the local Hometown channels, he'll gather as much of his staff as he's able around to watch his screen, to see the Light World (or at least, a dramatized version of it) for themselves. He also plugs in his VCR with a blank tape and records Light World movies and shows for others to watch, and for Pippinses to make and circulate bootleg copies of -- there's actually a small Mew Mew Kissy Cutie fanclub in TV World!
Cathode Crew Halloween Headcanons, you know you want to 📺🎃
(sends this literally the 1st of the month like an impatient beetle)
Hehehe...Sorry for the wait!
Battat:
-While for most Pippinses trick-or-treating is a sacred pasttime (the technical 50% chance of getting tricked helps), Battat was never a big fan. Even today he prefers to give out candy rather than go door-to-door with Pluey, but like with any Pippins there is indeed a 50% chance of getting a trick from him instead of a treat...
-LOVES a good ghost story! And paranornal / religious horror movies as well. Not a huge fan of the slashers though, they just frustrate him with how unrealistic everyone acts ("Really? You're just gonna go IN the cabin in the middle of the woods with the MEAT GRINDER out front and the CHAINSAW hanging on the wall?!")
-Usually the Mikes will draw straws for who shows up to Tenna's Halloween parties as Mike, and who just comes as themselves. Lately, however, Battat's been hiding an extra short straw in his sleeve...
Jongler:
-Gets frightened surprisingly easily! They'll usually forgive Pluey for sneaking up on them in the dark, but will stay in the Mike Room safely away from most of the Halloween festivities.
-The one to help Tenna with his special Halloween programming, giving the other two time to enjoy the holiday.
-That said, they absolutely do enjoy listening to Battat's milder spooky stories, and attending Tenna's parties. They're not too big on candy but LOVE the spooky cupcakes Pluey bakes for the occasion, and that suspiciously blood-red punch Ramb puts out.
Pluey:
-INSISTS that "Mike" wear a costume every year, which means he actually makes three entirely different costumes for them to wear over top of their Mike costumes. Battat nearly dies from heatstroke every Halloween.
-HUGE fan of old-school slasher movies! Usually watches them alone late at night after the other two go to bed. (Though most years Tenna will watch one or two with his Mike...)
-Being a literal shadow, it's very easily for Pluey to sneak up on and terrify people, so he's the one to administer the tricks (versus Battat's treats)!
Bonus, Tenna!
-You just KNOW he goes all out for every holiday, and Halloween's no exception! Decorating his studio, throwing a big Halloween party for all his employees at the end of the day, Halloween Specials (including a few scary movies after dark), the works. He does keep everything TV-Y7 at most, though, so no blood or gore.
-Shows at least one of the old Scooby-Doo movies every single year. He's always been a big fan. (One year he even dressed up as Fred, but shrank to the size of a hamster when no one recognized he was even in costume.)
-Sends everyone in his studio adorable handwritten Halloween cards, with candy included! Doesn't understand why that's not a more common Halloween tradition.
-I mentioned this one in a fic but I'll explain it here too because it's a little weird, Tenna DOES have eyes but they're pretty much invisible underneath his screen, sorta like what's going on with Lancer and That One Sprite. They're almost always closed anyway, since he navigates the Dark World primarily using his antennae (he CAN see objects with them though not very well). When Tenna DOES open his eyes he is only able to see through his screen into the Light World, and can minimally control his Light World "body" as well at the cost of losing all sense of his Dark World self. Basically:
Eyes Closed = can only perceive Dark World
Eyes Open = can only perceive Light World.
-When Tenna opens his eyes, what he sees of the Dreemurr living room shows in his screen in the Dark World -- before everyone stopped watching him Tenna enjoyed getting Shuttah to snap pictures of the family for him this way.
-However, when Tenna's unplugged in the Light World, no matter how wide he opens his eyes he's completely cut off -- he can't see or hear anything (much less replicate it in his screen), which is why he's so out of the loop on recent things like Asriel going to college! He also gets SLIGHTLY less energetic onstage when unplugged, but just slightly (his behavior in chapter 3 wasn't JUST out of trying to impress Kris, it was also the first time in years he's felt a little electricity flowing through him!)
-He's just unusually in tune with the Light World in general, far more than is typical for a Darkner, which made him kind of a pariah until he MADE himself the center of attention in TV World. Even when Tenna's unplugged his health is directly affected by Light World weather, hence why he keeps the Weather Duo close by (for those who've never dealt with antenna TV a light rain can actually weaken and interfere with its signal, which translates to a cold in the Dark World! Not mention LEAVING HIM OUTSIDE in said rain...). And sometimes he'll get caught just rambling about wanting to relax on a sunny beach or climb a tree or drive around places that ONLY exist in the Light World, which never ceases to weird out other Darkners who have absolutely no idea what he's talking about.
-His Dark World form is capable of tuning into and displaying any channel, from both worlds! He doesn't do this a lot, mostly because he prefers to provide his own entertainment, but this ability does get some use during studio downtime. Tenna can also hook up a VCR for movie nights -- he's got a decent VHS collection!
-Very very self-indulgent one, he's a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen, and some of his favorite movies are ones using his special effects.
-Speaking of movie nights, Tenna's movie knowledge is encyclopedic, and he can rattle off almost any actor's or director's entire filmography on command. DO NOT challenge him to trivia contests unless you enjoy losing miserably. (It's a good thing he prefers to host those instead)
-He smells STRONGLY of expensive cologne at all times, often his employees can smell him coming from a mile away. The guy's got a different scent for every day of the week, and even more he saves for special occasions! (But he did remove all the scents a certain Mailman liked most...)
-"Mike" confirmed the nose is fake -- Tenna's apparently got a drawer full of them -- so I think that underneath it his actual nose is very small and perhaps even round instead of pointy. There still exist a few very old photos of Tenna as a young rising star with his natural nose, but it's best not to pull them out in front of him; he's incredibly embarrassed and will destroy those photos on sight.
-Another small ingame detail most people missed, TV Dinners do not contain meat confirmed (pipis are...a gray area.) I dunno if Tenna's actually a full vegan as the TV dinner description implies (since ice cream), but I do think vegetarian makes sense; he probably liked running PSAs about eating your fruits and veggies for Asriel and Kris when they were young.
-I also feel he'd closely follow all the different fad diets advertised on TV, out of insecurity for his weight -- CRTs are HEAVY, and Tenna's not a small one so he'd be around 300-400lbs in the Light World alone! You know the kind, no carbs, detox this random chemical, etc. But for multiple obvious reasons he never loses any weight by dieting, not that that ever stops him.
-Related, when he shrinks he doesn't actually get much lighter; since his mass doesn't have anywhere to go he just gets super dense. He'll be six inches tall and still needs like three people to lift him!
-He can also get MUCH BIGGER -- like, he hasn't yet found an upper limit to his sizeshifting, but then he also doesn't really try it that often. Every ceiling in TV World was already scaled to Tenna's usual height, and they didn't have the budget to raise them even higher! The biggest he's bothered to grow before was to be able to reach up and replace parts on top of his studio's own broadcast towers, head literally in the clouds...
-(Spamton always begged to ride between his antennae whenever he did that.)
-He used to shrink himself down to average height onstage, a little self-conscious of being so tall at first, but Spamton convinced him to just get out there as his Big self! And likewise he also got really insecure about his static lisp, but watching how Spamton never let his ad interruptions bother him inspired Tenna to embrace it as well! (The two were actually good for each other, with Tenna in turn teaching Spamton a little discipline, temporarily curbing some of his more impulsive and destructive behaviors, not to mention helping to keep his language a little more family-friendly...)
-So, the whole Spamton Situation: While I adore Spamtenna, my favorite interpretation of it is that while Spamton was still around he and Tenna were just...friends. With benefits to be sure, they kissed and did a few decidedly not-appropriate-for-TV things behind the curtain as well (Spam's hinting at having heart problems may or may not come from forgetting to properly discharge Tenna's CRT a couple times...), but they NEVER became an official couple -- both had an image to keep up, after all! It wasn't until a little after Spamton got That One Call and fled that Tenna kicked himself HARD for keeping things strictly professional with his favorite Mailman, never letting on about developing Feelings for his co-star until it was too late, and Spamton also looked back on his (business) partner and realized he'd fumbled a lot more than a lucrative TV deal, too.
-Spamton was one of the very, VERY few people Tenna ever allowed to call him just "Ant."
-It was Tenna who first told Spamton "Now's your chance to be a big shot!" when trying to "sweet talk" him to sign their deal.
-Complete. Sugar. Addict. MASSIVE sweet tooth, appropriate for someone with "Ant" in his name! There's a non-negotiable clause in each of Tenna's employee contracts that any sweets they bring into the studio automatically belong to him, and trying to sneak any past security isn't smart because he WILL sniff it out and dock your pay as punishment. In theory there's supposed to be candy dishes in the green room for the rest of the cast but Tenna almost always empties them himself by the end of the morning talk show. That and a steady diet of coffee (with tons of sugar added!) keeps him nice and energetic in front of the cameras, but once he does suffer a sugar crash it's never pretty...
-He has insomnia, and not entirely thanks to all the sugar/caffeine. Those 4AM appointments aren't a joke, he really is awake at that hour, and FORCES his staff to be as well (the dreaded late-night shift!) There are nights where the Weather Duo, Ramb, or one of the "Mikes" need to just yank Tenna's battery or do some other trick to literally knock him unconscious in order to get him, and themselves, to bed for a few hours. The rare nights when he does sleep Tenna just turns completely off, and it can take him a little extra time to wake up and get his screen back on in the morning, even when he sets like fifteen alarm clocks. He's a shockingly heavy sleeper, and isn't actually cabable of dreaming in this state, either, so a lot of times he'll just lay there with his screen dimmed and daydream instead.
-You know the infamous CRT Whine? While it's not TECHNICALLY tinnitus since others can hear the sound outside of Tenna's head, that constant high-pitched tone he produces is still a thing he deals with, and he HATES it. Talking and performing as much as possible is his main way of drowning it out and distracting himself! When things get quiet and all Tenna can focus on is his own faint whine, it can make him spiral into anxiety attacks, so soft music or white noise (even if it's just his own static in a pinch) is absolutely necessary.
-The parental block Toriel set up doesn't stop Tenna at all; he's long since figured out the code (and may or may not have slipped hints to Kris whenever they tried to brute-force it). But it does get super annoying to have to input a code whenever he wants to say a tier 1 swear (tier 2 swears are always off-limits, Tenna genuinely doesn't like using filthy language censored or not) or watch a raunchy music video or have a glass of battery acid, so he doesn't usually bother.
-You know those guys that pop up everywhere in TV World to cheer for you? With the exception of a few Ribbicks and Shadowguys wandering around down there, they're ALL fake, a little bit of Tenna's spare magic he set up to cheer himself up when he's feeling unloved (and annoy all of his employees to no end). Literally none of Tenna's shows are actually filmed before a live studio audience, even if he claims otherwise.
-While he obviously prefers being in front of the cameras, Tenna also tends to be very hands-on behind them as well. In addition to hacking together his video game boards he insists on helping out backstage to build and paint his own sets, and edit his recordings. But, he has a HUGE perfectionist streak, which drives his staff crazy whenever he buts in on their work since it's never, ever good enough for him.
-He's actually a surprisingly talented writer, having penned a bunch of his own screenplays! The perfectionism applies here too, though, and a lot of his best writing is stashed away in his dressing room, never to have a pair of eyes (or antennae) on it...
-Also, dancing -- this was how Tenna got his very first tastes of the spotlight entertaining other Darkners, before he built his own studio! Whenever he gets an opportunity he'll gladly show off a few moves, and even sing along or get on the piano (he taught himself to play along with Kris!) Tenna's just insanely multi-talented in the performing arts in general, and he KNOWS it, it's just his own ego (and emotional instability) that hold him back.
-Because of that massive ego Tenna has a very, very hard time seeing other people as equals, or relating to / empathizing with them at all, his Lightner family aside (it says a lot that the only people Tenna relates to are literal gods...) He can be extremely selfish at times, and has some serious difficulties with socialization ("The King of Only"...), with the closest thing he's ever had to real friends being the Weather Duo and Spamton (Mike is an entirely different can of worms, that I'll get to in a second). In the former case it's mostly out of them just being nice to their boss, though, and in the latter it was ENTIRELY an accident -- Spam's own gigantic ego and disregard for everyone but his own Big Shot self clashed with Tenna's in just the right way that they clicked instantly.
-Personality Disorders(tm) aside, though, Tenna rarely ever gets openly nasty with anyone, unless he's stressed or they REALLY piss him off. Just because he manipulates and exploits those he sees as (literally and figuratively) smaller than him doesn't mean he can't be nice about it! When he cuts their paycheck or reassigns them to the 3AM shift it's all in fun! He's a fun and likeable guy, right? RIGHT??
-Tenna...doesn't really ever throw things away. He just can't stand to. It's not to the level of being a full-on hoarder (yet) but he tends to be very sentimental, keeping all of his old recordings and costumes and props and different keepsakes throughout the studio, even if they're just shoved in a corner somewhere. Tenna still has a bunch of stuff from Spamton tucked away, too, not just the pipis.
-Okay not ENTIRELY a headcanon, but I diagnose this man with being ambidextrous because of his gun hand swapping during his boss battle minigames! Tenna can and will pull out two pens and sign autographs with both hands at the same time, as a little party trick.
-I dunno if I fully accept the cord tail headcanon yet, if he does have one he makes sure to hide it well. But I LOVE thinking about Tenna's antennae being surprisingly expressive, and completely involuntary on his part, sometimes embarrassing him since they're not exactly something he can just tuck into the back of his suit -- they'll droop when he's upset, pop up and out when he's excited, twitch when he's thinking or bored, wave side to side on their own when he's overly pleased with himself, lean towards a specific direction when he's trying to eavesdrop on someone or take a closer look at something, curl or zigzag around each other when he's flustered (or just drunk), etc. And yes, yanking on or even just touching one or both of them when he's not prepared for it HURTS -- they're very sensitive!!
-There is a very good reason behind his tie apparently being bulletproof, and his suit being axe-proof. He no longer televises underground Shadowguy fight nights...
-HUGE cat person -- Tenna dreams of someday having a pet kitty to fall asleep on his nice warm CRT head (that one time Catti did it doesn't count). He loved having Tasque Manager and her Tasques visit along with Queen's entourage (I headcanon that only the mansion temporarily relocated to TV World whenever Kris brought Queen home to play, not all of Cyber World), and of all the Mikes, he MIGHT actually have a slight preference for Cat Mike (also why most of their attacks / minigames involve cats in some way.)
-Tenna doesn't get the internet but that doesn't mean he's COMPLETELY tech-illiterate, he's just very, very old-school, late 80s / early-90s at most. He can definitely use a computer to play games, calculate his show's budget, program in assembly or BASIC, and do VERY primitive special effects (I specifically like to think he's still rocking an Amiga 2000 with Video Toaster!) It's just that if you ask him to hook up a modem / ethernet cable to his computer or browse to a website he looks at you like you're speaking Portugese without subtitles.
-The Mikes have just accepted their boss handing them orders, budget requests, and scripts on floppy disk. See? Tenna can be modern! Look at how much paper he's NOT wasting!
-And on the subject of Mike...unfortunately I'm in the "Mike never actually existed" camp, because the implications are just funnier to me, and because it speaks volumes to me that Tenna does a lot of "Mike"'s work himself. Mike was someone Tenna made up as a sort of imaginary friend before he even built his studio, to keep him company whenever he got lonely, and to pin the blame on whenever something went wrong (because of course he can never blame himself). And he just kept it going as he became a big shot, to his stagehands' IMMENSE confusion -- Battat, Jongler, and Pluey aren't the first to question just who Mike is, nor are they even the first to try and fill the role themselves, with multiple different Darkners playing "Mike" over the years (hence why Tenna doesn't question the different costumes at all -- it actually amuses him because three at once is a new record). Even Spamton himself might've taken on the name a couple of times...
All three:
-They’re ALL gamers. Every single one. It’s kind of hard not to be when you live in a city where everything IS video games!
-Animal Crossing! They've all got a town, with K_K as the mayor / island rep. He genuinely enjoys having fun with all his islanders, even if those interactions are a little shallow, and visiting other islands (he is low-key looking for cuter islanders, though he'd never say it out loud because he doesn't want his current ones to feel bad). Cap'n is addicted to making patterns and terraforming/redecorating the island; everything's completely different from week to week. Sweet's trying desperately to complete the museum, and tends to scream and panic at the end of every month if there's any bugs/fish they missed! And of course, every Saturday night they all make time to see KK Slider perform!
-Of course, RHYTHM GAMES!! Sweet's a master at Guitar/DJ Hero and Beatsaber, Cap'n gets more into Rhythm Heaven or Parappa, and K_K can and will hit every single step in DDR on the highest difficulty. All three also totally play Band Hero together, with Sweet on the guitar, K_K on the drums, and Cap'n on the mic.
-They legitimately use Smash Bros to settle arguments sometimes. All three fight over who gets to be R.O.B., though K_K usually concedes first and goes for Kirby instead.
-They've also all got a soft spot for Mega Man, especially the Classic series. Sweet in particular cheers whenever the Yellow Devil shows up (and then dies to them immediately).
Sweet:
-Has their own Minecraft server, where they build a ton of complex structures and redstone mechanisms. K_K and Cap'n are allowed on only if they promise not to grief their builds. (Cap'n usually breaks that promise and gets kicked. He is NOT to be trusted with lava.)
-Also really into Moonbase Alpha, unironically. Nothing frustrates him more than trying to actually maintain his base while everyone else is spamming "John Madden" or "aeiou" (Though, he did indeed sample the chat spam for a song once...)
-Nintendogs. He's got three chihuahuas -- Sir Snuggles, Fluffy the Destroyer, and Marigold -- and GOD HELP YOU if you slight them in any way, or interrupt him in the middle of their thrice-daily walkies.
-He's also got an old Neopets account, but only logs in like once a year to check on things. He keeps meaning to get back into it, but it just never happens...
-Likes retro gaming in general, pulling out stuff that the other two have never even heard of! Sadly, he doesn't quite have the reflexes they demand of him, but he still has fun.
-Is still trying to beat the original Legend of Zelda on his own, without looking up a guide/walkthrough. Cap'n keeps dropping hints to play the whistle at a certain pond, but Sweet's just too stubborn to listen to him...
Cap'n:
-Dating sims and visual novels, where he makes sure to play every single route. Come on, you KNOW that's where he got all his knowledge of how dating works!
-Also loves JRPGs, and may or may not get fashion ideas from them.
-Really, REALLY gets into the Sims, where he's got entire neighborhoods of Sims whose lives and relationships he controls like a soap opera (they're constantly kissing). Of course, he's also got one house reserved for three Sims designed after him and his bandmates, who he's sure to take extra special care of. (They kiss too, but not because Cap makes them...)
-Will ALWAYS be in the final 10 when he plays Tetris 99. He just...gets really into the zone, and is able to keep the board clear no matter how fast things get.
-Also does surprisingly well with FPSes? Only plays the campaigns, though, or with K_K on co-op -- he's too shy to attempt playing online with people who might recognize him.
-Has a secret Let's Play channel that NO ONE is allowed to know about, not even Sweet or K_K! He's terrified of anyone recognizing him, so he refuses to go on camera, and even changes his voice! (yoinked this one from @andersam5 !)
-(Overall hides his gaming habit in general, outside of his bandmates, afraid of being labelled a nerd.)
K_K:
-All of them. No, seriously, they love video games the most out of the three, which if you've read this far is saying a lot!
-REALLY into Pokemon, became the champion in every single entry at least once and even plays competitively to a degree! Still hasn't completed the Pokedex, though.
-Also, appropriately enough, their attention span makes WarioWare games a breeze for them!
-Absolutely ADORES racing games, of course, and especially likes the more realistic ones like Gran Turismo and Forza, that let him tune up real cars and pretend to be them. He'll also play Mario Kart, though there's a house rule in place that if Sweet or Cap'n get a blue shell K_K HAS to just accept it and let them win for once (it's the only break the two of them ever really get!)
-They can play through Silent Hill without even flinching.
-Super into those old mascot platformers like Sonic and Crash Bandicoot and Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie and, of course, Kirby. Knows absolutely every bit of obscure Kirby lore and will infodump if you let them.
-Actually plays bullet hells like Touhou pretty well, though not GREAT. It’s their worst genre.
-Enjoys traditional games and board games as well, and has a whole shelf of them in the shop. Most are missing pieces, since they were all dug out of the trash, but K_K improvises new ones, or just discards the rules entirely, inventing their own games with the pieces they have!
(Now things are gonna get interesting...)
Multiple Bots / All Three:
-First off, there's nothing super high-tech about them at all; in fact they're pretty LOW-tech compared to a lot of the other Cyber World inhabitants. All three work more on electricity-based magic than anything else, the same stuff other Darkners get from their fountain but slightly more refined (and pretty common in Cyber World, versus other Dark Worlds).
-Most of their inner mechanical workings are actually dedicated to their musical functions, carried directly over from their Light World forms, rather than keeping them alive and making them move, which all happens via their magic! That said, though, if the circuits and wires that carry that magic through them get damaged, they WILL malfunction and shut down, but they can always be repaired.
-They're also mostly plastic rather than metal, especially on the outside. But, if you stick a magnet to the CD players' heads, it will stick, and glitch them out! (Please, DON'T stick magnets to their heads)
-Their limbs and K_K's/Cap'n's waists are little more than a bunch of wires in a black casing. The wires themselves are actually prehensile, able to move on their own, no joints or any other mechanical devices required! (They're almost LITERAL noodle limbs!) But, that also means that if the casing tears and the wires spill out, it can get difficult to move them, since they're all trying to go different ways...
-This is also why they all wear rubber gloves, and almost never go barefoot: Their hands and feet are just the exposed ends of a few of those wires sticking out, and can not only shock people but also look a little disconcerting (think something like what's going on with Xurkitree...) They're also extremely sensitive as well!
-None of them can snap their fingers, though that doesn't stop them from trying.
-Their voices come out of their speakers, both of them in Sweet's case. Rarely, their heads and bodies can de-sync a little, making Sweet's voices or the CD players' mouth movements not match up.
-All three have audio input ports (multiple different types, in Sweet's case!), but only the CD players have output. When something is plugged into their headphone jacks, it mutes Cap'n and K_K completely, with their voices only coming out through whatever they're plugged into. With Sweet, when you plug something in to play through him, it only plays through his body speaker; he can still speak through his head speaker.
-All three have spots for their electrical cords exactly where you'd expect their tails to plug in.
-The CD players can both fold down their handles, though sometimes they'll lower or raise on their own depending on their emotions (like cat ears!) Cap'n's just lays flat against the top of his head, but since K_K's head is thinner his goes all the way down behind it.
-They also have both CD and cassette drives. However, while CDs work a little differently between the two of them (will get into that later), both cassette slots are, strangely, in the back of their throats -- meaning they literally have to swallow tapes in order to play them! Needless to say, this supremely weirds Sweet out, and K_K a little as well, which is why they stick to CDs.
-The CD players can absolutely detach their heads and be carried around by their handles. They've got backup speakers (oddly enough, Cap'n's are underneath his headphones, while K_K's are internal), so they can still speak and play music, but they basically become regular CD players, just like in the Light World, albeit ones that can critique your music choices. Sweet technically can detach his head as well, but almost all of his inputs are on his body, and he's tougher to carry around without a handle, making it kind of pointless unless he really needs to be compact for some reason.
-Cap'n's and K_K's eyes are actually small LCD screens, with their pupils being made of pixels! They both DO have eyelids, but they're entirely optional since they don't need to blink and can fully emote via their pupils -- Cap'n chooses to use his, K_K does not. Sweet's eye is a bunch of LEDs in the middle of their speaker, that light up to form their pupil -- slightly different, but produces pretty much the same effect unless you look closely.
-Because they're magic/mechanical hybrids, just eating food / drinking milk heals them, up to a point! Sadly, because they're magic/mechanical hybrids, their healing isn't as efficient as other Darkners, and they WILL need to physically fix damage eventually. Even Silk Almond Milk™ can't help them if something breaks really bad...
-They also get computer viruses, always a problem in Cyber World (and now Castle Town!) They basically act just like any sick Lightner, and if one of them gets infected it spreads to the other two almost instantly, wiping them all out for a couple days.
Sweet:
-Speaker mouth? Speaker mouth. Dude eats/drinks exactly like Bill Cipher, right through his eye. It took a while for Cap'n and K_K to get used to it.
-His boxy body is mostly hollow -- while CD players don't require much in the way of mechanics in order to function, speakers like Sweet require even less, just his big ol' speakers and a few bundles of wires! And most of what he DOES have is in his head and around his shoulders, making him really top-heavy and affecting his balance. He can sometimes hide tools or his cord in there, though the rattling gets on his nerves when he's trying to concentrate.
-He's by FAR the easiest to open up and work on, and can even do most of his maintenance completely on his own.
-However, since he's mostly hollow, without much internal support, Sweet gets dented REALLY easily. Tripping or getting knocked around in a normal fight aren't too dangerous, but if he falls from a significant height or gets a particularly bad blow, he'll need an entire replacement case! And if something gets loose and starts knocking around in there, it can REALLY rip him apart inside. If he gets damaged to that point, expect K_K to carry him around gently like a baby until they can get him back to the shop.
-His voice glitches sometimes, particularly when he raises his volume -- P and B sounds can be a little difficult for him, since they'll pop just like on a real speaker! And his S sounds can get extra high-pitched as well. All three of these he can sometimes "stutter" on, retrying them in a way that isn't glitched.
-Also, microphones. NEVER plug one into him, he will produce the worst mic feedback you will ever hear. It's kind of useless anyway, since he's his own amp.
-He does have a very good handle on his acoustics otherwise, able to even throw his voice, "whisper," or play brass instruments by concentrating his vibrations onto a specific point. Most of the time he just yells everything as loud as possible, though.
Cap'n:
-Shaped a lot like K_K under the hoodie, with a speaker chest and literally just a thin column of wires underneath for his waist (which I think is actually semi-canon now as of that Short!K_K comic?)
-All of his function buttons (Play, Pause, etc) are along the top of his chest, VERY well-hidden by his scarf. No one is allowed to touch them, ever.
-Despite being technically a newer and more advanced model than K_K, he's actually rather poorly-constructed, with a bunch of random mechanical problems and manufacturing defects -- basically the sickly kid of the trio. His vision issues are the most obvious one, but his disc drive sometimes skips or refuses to play, he's unable to extend his torso/limbs like K_K can, his radio antenna is bent (still functions fine, but he insists on keeping it hidden under his cap for a reason!), and he's got numerous sensory problems that can overload him and cause glitches. His wiring is also fragile and prone to shorting, which has a side effect of making his magical attacks MUCH weaker than the others'! It definitely doesn't help that he tends to hide damage and neglect his own maintenance, making all of these problems even worse...
-Those four vents on his forehead absolutely function as his eyebrows, and you cannot convince me otherwise.
-Whenever his CD drive skips (and K_K's too, but it's much more common (and embarrassing) with Cap'n), it's basically the equivalent of getting the hiccups, and it can take him a little while to work through them.
-When he switches CD tracks or uses his radio tuner his eyes temporarily switch to displaying the numbers instead, though it isn't visible behind his shades.
-Almost all Darkners, and especially music robots, have four fingers -- Cap'n having five on each hand is actually kind of the equivalent of a human having six! He used to be ashamed, always keeping his hands in his pockets and treating it like yet another manufacturing defect, but all it took was one girl telling him it made him look cool (not cool enough to date him, but still) and now he likes to flaunt it, making his little hand gestures as much as possible to show off his extra fingers!
K_K:
-His disc drive isn't a pop-open tray like Cap'n's, but rather a slot type, right in the middle of the top of his head in front of his handle. And the button on his forehead is indeed his Eject button, which given its unfortunate placement accidentally gets pressed often, and K_K goes through a LOT of CDs by just having them pop right out...
-(Having their CD drive literally right where their brain should be also explains a couple things about K_K's personality, especially them getting lost in the music and not really processing much else once they hit Play...)
-The button on their chest speakers is the one they hold down to unlock their limbs and torso, letting them extend, and K_K uses it all the time! But, unfortunately, they can't shorten themselves instead, since there's just no room for the wires inside their case, and on occasion the button or their limbs can get stuck, requiring some repairs to get them back down to normal length.
-Seriously, EVERYTHING is crammed into their head and chest. Their circuits are packed closely together, making it tough to open and work on them (and Cap'n as well!) With so little extra room, they also can't eat as much as Sweet can, meaning they have to snack a lot!
-They have full control over their voice, and can change its pitch/tone completely in an instant, to the point of being an expert at mimicking others and even recreating sound effects to drop into conversations! And when they start humming or singing, it's much more than simple vocalizing, with K_K able to recreate full synthesizer melodies themselves rather than just playing them off a CD!
-Without any vents, they overheat VERY easily -- the speakers-out look isn't just for show! If K_K malfunctions or gets too stressed out, they can even start smoking, and spontaneously shut down / pass out, meaning the other two have to drag them over to the couch and keep an eye on them until they cool back down. They have a surprising thing for meditation and de-stressing via self care, mostly because of this.
-Sweet's favorite candy: Anything with caramel. Or honey. Or almond nougat. (You didn't think it was JUST the milk, did you?) He likes the sticky stuff.
-Sweet never got to go trick-or-treating as a kid. However, even though he's all grown up now, K_K insists on taking him out in costume every year to experience it! (To his credit, when he's standing next to K_K almost everyone thinks he's a 10-year-old...)
-Three words: Pumpkin spice lattes. Thanks to Sweet these actually sell out as early as September.
-He also gets into arguments over insisting the shop smell like pumpkin spice all season, instead of the floral or sugary scents Cap'n and K_K prefer.
-Overall, he's just more of a general Fall fan than a Halloween fan. He likes when the weather starts getting cooler, and he can justify wearing gigantic sweaters and scarves and cuddling up in tons of blankets with hot drinks.
-He does love carving pumpkins with his bandmates, though! They end up with jack-o-lanterns all over the shop (though Sweet ends up cleaning piles of rotting pumpkin mush three days later all by himself...)
-Cap'n's favorite candy: Believe it or not, he's a dark chocolate fan! Though, he likes all chocolate, especially the kind with almonds in it (again, it's not JUST the milk!)
-He also LOVES trick-or-treating, though now it's less about doing it himself and more passing on his extensive knowledge of the best neighborhoods to kids, in exchange for a percent of the proceeds of course!
-(K_K and Sweet are not exempt. They owe him a candy tax for his help every year. But it's fine, they just give him all the stuff they don't want!)
-Cap'n is also obsessed with trying to prove how brave he is, watching horror movies and going to haunted houses. He always ends up needing to leave five minutes in, clinging to K_K for safety.
-He's always the mastermind behind the trio's Halloween parties as well! While Sweet and K_K handle the tunes and the treats, he decorates the rest of the shop, and makes and delivers the invitations by hand.
-Also the master of costumes, both on the stage and on Halloween. His bandmates usually go to him for help with theirs!
-K_K's favorite candy: Come on, do I really have to say it? But in addition to lemon drops, they also love...well, pretty much everything, including black licorice, candy corn, and those bland circus peanuts, but sour candy is usually their favorite!
-They also revel in the opportunity to bake spooky-themed treats all season, and give them out in addition to candy to trick-or-treaters at the shop!
-K_K LOVES swapping out their usual soundtrack for things more suited to the holiday, and can usually be found doing their own Monster Mashes with Cap'n. They'll also keep one of those stock sound effects CDs loaded, and randomly play zombie moans or rattling chains or cracks of thunder -- it absolutely drives Sweet up the wall, but he hates to disappoint them so he tries to laugh along.
-They've dressed up as Frankenstein's monster for the past six years. However, with Cap'n's help they do at least switch up some of the details.
-They also insist on trick-or-treating every single year, no matter how old they get, since you never outgrow free candy! In fact, it's even more fun sharing it with Sweet!
-Can and will watch the goriest horror movies, and play the most jumpscare-y video games, without even flinching. No one knows what it takes to actually scare them, but Sweet and Cap'n are fine with that -- K_K's always there to hold them whenever Halloween gets too spooky!
And now for a whole bunch of anger / damage / virus / just plain bad day SCC headcanons!
(For all your angst needs.)
Sweet:
-Surprisingly wears his emotions on his (metaphorical) sleeve -- when he's upset with his bandmates he tries to make it as clear to them as possible, rather than hold it in, sometimes interrupting whatever they're doing just to talk through it...or, at least, vent at them for several minutes straight. He's not great at articulating what he's feeling, sadly, but he tries to at least get it all out into the open.
-Also the one who tries to encourage the others to be as open as he is -- and, unfortunately, this is one of the things that frustrates him the most, since Cap'n and K_K just...aren't!
-Of course, he's different with his bandmates than a total stranger. For anyone else, Sweet tends to get VERY aggressive when slighted, losing his temper and cranking his volume! He's like a chihuahua sometimes, picking fights with people much bigger than he is, and unfortunately he's NOT all bark and no bite -- Cap'n and K_K often have to defuse the situation in a hurry before the bullets start flying!
-When Sweet's anxious his workaholic tendencies and perfectionism go into overdrive, and he won't even take breaks to eat/rest until whatever he's working on is finished, and it's NEVER finished to his standards. It becomes a bit of a bad cycle, that the others (usually K_K) have to pull him out of. (I know this one's a common headcanon but y'all are absolutely right!)
-Another thing he'll do to blow off steam, only when Cap'n is away from the shop (since he's made it VERY clear he's not a fan!) is to hook up his electric guitar and just wail on it and scream for a couple hours, trading in his hip hop for thrash metal! He used to do it alone, but lately K_K has taken an interest, and when they hear it they'll join in on drums, banging and screaming and headbanging along with Sweet. Before Queen banned music, you could occasionally find a couple ultra-rare demo tapes of some secretive metal duo called "Sweetcakes" around Cyber City...
-Can't actually cry through his speaker. He'll get choked up, maybe sob a little, and it looks and sounds ridiculous (leading to plenty of teasing from Cap'n!), but can't physically produce tears.
-Gets damaged the easiest of the three, but at least he's also the easiest to repair. Replacement speaker parts are extremely common, and Sweet's design is much simpler than the CD players, meaning he can even handle some of the work completely on his own!
-However, for things Sweet can't handle, like when they need to be shut down, they usually trust K_K with the work over Cap'n. When Cap’n does repairs on his own, Sweet usually wakes up two days later with no arms, four legs, and painted green...
-Naturally, his actual speakers, being the most complicated parts of his body, break a LOT. All three members of SCC know how to rebuild them entirely from scratch, since they've done it so many times!
-He also frequently breaks down in general, since he's had so many parts replaced over the years that aren't all fully-compatible with each other, and is held together in some spots by little more than duct tape. Sometimes a limb will fall off or one of his speakers will loosen, but he tries to stick to a strict maintenance schedule to keep this to a minimum!
-He gets migraines sometimes, from his own damn volume. Not that he'll ever turn it down, though -- he just powers right through them, or at least tries, until Cap'n swipes his headphones and K_K drags him to bed.
-Has a bunch of random "allergies" to certain things; it’s not actually dangerous, he just glitches out. Dairy is the big one (there's a reason the band exclusively drinks almond milk, though it still happens on accident sometimes, like when the barista at Cyberbucks gets his order wrong, after which Cap’n and K_K always go back and very politely ask for a refund with their bullets), but also plant pollen (not that that's a problem in Cyber World...right?), aluminum foil, certain types of batteries and dyes, Adobe Flash (thank goodness it’s no more!), and dogs, Annoying or otherwise.
-Gets hit by viruses HARD when he catches them. With his speakers being so sensitive, he's much more susceptible to ones that affect them, with his voice usually distorting or even cutting out completely. But, that’s rarely ever a problem, since they also drain his energy, meaning he spends almost the entire time it takes to flush out his system barely even conscious.
Cap'n:
-Oh man.
-This guy.
-Represses. EVERYTHING. I don't think he's willingly shown or talked about his feelings in his life -- whenever something’s obviously wrong and Cap'n's being cagey about it Sweet usually has to sit him down and force it out of him. There's a very particular, soft tone Sweet's voice takes on when they do this, while they squeeze Cap'n's shoulder just hard enough to feel it in his wires, that they know he just can't resist...
-Gets upset surprisingly easy, though. And when he does, he tends to explode and make it everyone else's problem -- starting verbal arguments, trashing the others’ stuff on purpose, disappearing for a few hours into the city and getting himself into trouble, etc.
-But, once he does cool down, he'll usually spend a couple days fixing or replacing anything that he broke, and buying (or, occasionally, baking) some snacks for the others, as his way of apologizing without ever actually saying the word "sorry." He'll usually leave these items on Sweet's or K_K's desks without a word, avoiding them until they come to him first.
-He's also the type to sulk, especially when he's anxious or feeling insecure in himself, just going off on his own (usually onto the junk shop's roof) and blasting his music or, more often, turning on his headphones' noise-canceling and sitting there in pure silence.
-Doesn't allow ANYONE to see him cry, period. And if someone does catch him, he'll immediately brush it off and act like he's just playing around, while desperately looking for an escape.
-(Though, when he really, really needs a shoulder to cry on, he goes right to K_K, trusting him to keep quiet about it afterward. He's especially scared of Sweet making fun of him for crying, the same way he makes fun of them...)
-Never actually starts a fistfight, and if involved in one will only fight to defend himself until he can hide behind his bandmates or give his attacker the slip. Though he’ll back the others up with his magic if it comes to that, he prefers to solve his problems via persuasion and talking things out. He likes to claim it’s because he's a lover rather than a fighter (Sweet helpfully translates this as "coward"), but it's not entirely the truth...
-While it's not NEARLY as bad as Sweet, he does tend to get damaged pretty often, especially if he gets into a fight, since his construction in the Light World is...not the greatest. He's made of some pretty cheap plastic parts that tend to just snap in half if he puts too much stress on them! Though, thankfully, replacements are easy to find in the Trash Pile.
-The biggest failure point, though, is his wiring, which keeps coming undone and causing all sorts of malfunctions. It's not uncommon for Cap'n to trip, pull a couple of wires in his leg out of place, and only have one usable leg until it's fixed.
-He also shorts out ridiculously easy! Sometimes his circuits will just randomly fry themselves if he gets too worked up. And don't EVER let him get wet...
-And when he does get damaged, he is STUBBORN about not letting the others know -- Cap'n can and has gone over a month on faulty wiring and missing speakers, hiding all damage under his clothes and trying (and failing) to fix it all himself in secret, and he's remarkably good at keeping a straight face even when he's in pain.
-Since Cap'n tends to end up in the seedier, less Ambyu-Lance-patrolled parts of Cyber City most often, he's constantly ending up with viruses. Definitely stubborn when he's sick as well, refusing to acknowledge anything's wrong until he's literally unable to move anymore or about to overheat, and Sweet has to practically tie him down to get him to take his antivirus. Will keep trying to get out of bed and work through his illness, and almost always ends up spreading it to Sweet afterwards (and, occasionally, K_K, though I'll get to that in a second...), then getting stuck caring for them in return once he recovers!
K_K:
-When they're upset they're either shrieking at the top of their...speakers, or absolutely dead silent, not saying a word or playing a single note. There is NO in-between, you get either 100 or 0 with K_K.
-When screaming, it's a full-on tantrum -- yelling, crying, stomping, smacking nearby objects and people who get too close. Can be a little dangerous since their arms are so long!
-When silent, K_K will sulk in a corner of the junk shop, away from everyone, making eye contact with anyone who approaches but that's the extent of it.
-With either of these, the best way to deal with it is honestly to just...wait it out. Tantrums rarely last more than a few minutes, and silent treatments only a day or two max before K_K forgives whatever got him so upset and goes back to his normal cheery self!
-It's actually VERY rare for K_K to get upset in general. They have a thing about always smiling, even when they're terrified or in pain -- they feel like, if they drop the smile, it'll make Sweet and Cap'n upset as well, and they hate the idea of that more than anything else! There's also a bit of a fake-it-till-you-make-it thing going on in that boombox head of theirs too, where if they constantly act happy and carefree, and just refuse to acknowledge anything negative, it'll become a reality, and so far it seems to be working! (Like Cap'n, K_K is BAD about repressing their emotions, and it frustrates Sweet to no end!)
-When K_K actually cries, it's just...ugly crying. Straight-up bawling. And he will not hesitate to grab the nearest person at the moment, be it Sweet, Cap'n, or a complete stranger, to cry on and demand comfort from. Of course, both of his bandmates will come running the instant they hear K_K even start to sniffle.
-Actually gets damaged pretty rarely as well -- they're made of really sturdy stuff, much better-quality than Cap'n, meaning K_K is DURABLE! They can get knocked around all day and never get more than a few scuffs on their outer casing.
-Their limbs are definitely a weak point, though, including their "spine," since they can all catch on things and get cut, especially whenever K_K extends them. But, they keep a lot of replacement limbs around for this purpose.
-Also, their CD drive can be a little delicate, skipping and possibly scratching the disc if they get bonked hard enough on the head.
-Unfortunately, if K_K does get seriously damaged, they are EXTREMELY difficult to fix due to their complicated design -- it doesn't help that Sweet and Cap'n have a hard time transporting them back to the shop on their own in an emergency, either, meaning repairs often have to be done in the field. It's absolutely a necessity for them to keep milk on their person at all times, to make sure they stay in good condition, or at least good enough to walk back home!
-Now for an interesting one: They don't catch viruses as often as Sweet or Cap'n, largely because they actually have a severe phobia of them. Whenever the other two (usually Cap'n) have a virus K_K just vanishes, avoiding them entirely outside of maybe fetching ice packs and making soup and wishing them well from a safe distance. Sweet and Cap'n understand this, and give them their space, taking on the bulk of the work of caring for each other in K_K's place.
-But, this means that when K_K themself gets sick, it's a REALLY REALLY BAD situation all around. They get extremely clingy and whiny and nervous, not wanting to be alone ever, and overheat and crash almost constantly from a mix of fever, panic, and refusing to un-burrito themself from all their blankets. Also, regardless of what other systems are affected, their CD drive almost always stops working first, and losing their main source of music only makes K_K's anxiety worse! Caring for them means Sweet and Cap'n playing lots of soothing music and singing to them and reading bedtime stories, to calm them down and let them focus on anything other than the virus.
-(Needless to say, K_K and Virovirokun are NOT friends.)
-There's a very specific thing that Cap'n will do when K_K's not feeling their best (no matter the reason, emotional or physical) where he'll sit down next to them, hit their Eject button, take whatever CD they were playing and pop it into himself instead, and play it for them, in order to fill the silence. By the time he reaches the last track K_K usually starts to feel better. They've learned to anticipate this, and sometimes will even swap out their CD in advance for something they know Cap'n will like (and Cap'n has his own copies of some of K_K's favorites for when they try to pull this on him!)
