#mission: whacked off

[petitprincess1]

"He didn't have to be" ooof.

[drama-glob]

Just poor Moxxie. ;_; ;_; ;_; He grew up with a monster for a father, and because he was a mob boss, could rationalized it just came with the role, but as we've seen before, being a criminal doesn't mean you're automatically a bad parent (which is a trope I honestly love), so for Moxxie to know that he could have had a happy childhood if his dad was actually a better person must be an unbelievable pain and increase that sense of longing for it. ;_; ;_; ;_;

I had a feeling this was the way the short would go based on the fact there were so many other parallels between Moxxie and Crimson to this mob family, but it's still so sad to see Moxxie break down at the end. ;_; ;_; ;_; I'm glad Moxxie doesn't feel the need to hide these feelings from Millie though and that she provides the comfort he so desperately needs.<3<3<3

[tealvenetianmask]

Let's take a moment to appreciate Moxxie for his incredible, stubborn, irritating, independent sense of justice.

Moxxie arrives determined to carry out his solo mission.

But when he finds out that his target (apparently) has been wronged in the same way he has . . .

He doesn't passively change his mind. He focuses his energy on finding out who is in the wrong here. Where is the injustice really? And, yeah, he's biased by his personal experiences.

He changes his mission to freeing his target from his mob boss dad because, based on his own worldview and the information he's gathered, that's the right thing to do.

He's sure about his decision, but he's also willing to change it when he gets new information.

And his wrath turns on the guy he first identified with because he learns that this guy . . . well . . . has a father who loves him but is throwing that person away for money and power.

He quickly does what he knows is right, and feels entirely validated in it.

He even bothers to save the mob boss who cared for his son. 😭

I love the angel motif. It's funny and . . . Moxxie is acting here as a judge of right and wrong, and a genuinely good person (even if the motivating factors are personal trauma).

The guy wears his heart on his sleeve, and it's not a bad thing. He's vulnerable but he's also a walking moral litmus test, and someone we can trust to stand up for what he believes is right.

It was also just good to see Moxxie working alone and coming into his own a bit. He's getting more comfortable calling the shots without Blitz.

And also, Millie . . . I'm starting to understand you. This is kind of hot.

[daddyhoothoot]

Moxxie finally processing his childhood trauma 🥺

[pamiwerewolfybunterfly]

2 Reasons that I LOVE Millie in the latest short:

She’s an amazing friend to Blitzø and He and Her hold an incredible and inseparable bond:

And and caring and understanding wife to her husband Moxxie:

[frie-ice]

Do you see what I see? Luigi Paesano's taller henchman looks like a human version of Alessio, just as Luigi's appearance and role as a mob boss had him be considered as the human counterpart version of Crimson.

Even though Luigi has something very important that Crimson deeply lacks, a love for his family. Though I can only imagine what CriminAle fans are going through with this.

[cookieclimax]

Look at him 🥺

He had no right to be as cute as he was, gawd dayumn 😭

[anemicjellyfish]

Since everyone else got to the big analysis of Mission: Whacked Off before me, here's an incomplete collection of thoughts I had on the short!

I really had to work like 10+ hours, fueled only by the recent Helluva Boss short and a brownie... sorry this post is a mess.

Starting out, it looks so much like the relationship between the father and son is going to be a close copy of the relationship between Crimson and Moxxie. A mafia boss father and the son that doesn't see eye-to-eye with him.

At first, we're supposed to see the similarities between Paulie and Moxxie. Both of them are being used by their own father... right?

Paulie's problem with his dad wasn't that he wanted out of the life of organized crime. Paulie wanted to be the one running things. He was never going to be satisfied with his father in control.

Because it was Moxxie that filled in those words "like a tool... an instrument of his [the father's] own twisted desire." Paulie responded with a very disinterested, "Yeah, sure..."

(I swiped my thumb around the screen too quickly and my phone ate a paragraph here. Sorry, I forgot what it said, but it was a transition into the next paragraph.)

Moxxie once had his father's approval, but that approval was very conditional. The flashback in Exe's and Ohh's showed child Moxxie's skill with firearms. This was immediately exploited by Crimson, as regular "target practice" turned deadly as a way to bring his son into the business side of the family.

Crimson's focus on family was all about what they could do for him. When his wife no longer followed the role he wanted her to, he put her at the bottom of the lake with the rest of the demons who crossed him. And when Moxxie stepped out of line, Crimson reminded him of just how serious the stakes are in their "family."

But Luigi Paesano wasn't the cruel, controlling, manipulative type. As much control as he had over the family business, he did want Paulie to take over someday. And when that someday came much sooner than he anticipated, Luigi was willing to sacrifice himself to save the family that he loves.

It turns out that it was Paulie who didn't care about the familial ties. He celebrated that his father was willing to die in his place. His own desire to run the family business overrode any kind of love he could ever feel for his own father.

In the end, we're left with Paulie dead by Moxxie's hands, and Moxxie coming to terms with the fact that even this crime-hardened family in the living world was more caring than his own. (Paulie did still have a mother, after all.)

I'm really looking forward to season 3. For so many reasons, but for the purposes of this post, to see Moxxie's continued progress.

I find Crimson a fascinating character. His success as a mafia boss comes at the expense of everyone around him.

His status in Hell was clawed up from the bottom, as he is an imp, and his capacity to do unspeakable things to anyone he could ever love shows two things: just how depraved his desire for power & control really is, and solidifying that imps have so few ways of climbing their way out of subservience to everyone else.

I wanna keep typing, but sleep is definitely winning tonight. Also, my cat keeps bumping me with her cute little face. Am I supposed to say no to her?! Deny a kitty her pets and cuddles for a tumblr post?!?