#posting boss

[vinkumakkara]

Visit Original Link

"I'll tell you what I wanna know: how come a couple of years ago the leader of the Saints was a guy and now, all of a sudden, he's running around with tits?"

[vinkumakkara]

Boss is pigeon toed is Canon TM you've always kinda been able to see it in their gait when they walk during cutscenes in sr2 but i definitely didn't realize what exactly it was until now

[vinkumakkara]

Boss in sr2 looks at the stuff they said and did in sr1 like "wow i'm so fucking cool and funny". like the one single thing they say to Johnny in sr1? they were clearly proud of it back then and they're still laughing about something that dumb five years later because it hasn't actually been five years for them. they were a brat in 2006, and in 2011 they're a traumatized brat whose body and place in the world no longer fit their brain quite right. seared on the outside but the inside is genuinely still completely undercooked as Julius was ever so shocked to find out. Johnny definitely feels the five years that have passed though - like would he look back to the good ol "8 inch cock" with the same amount of pride that Boss does to their stupid quip in the elevator? or just how he treated Aisha in general back then? it's a stark contrast with how he was in sr1. i guess "mellowed" is how a lot of people see it - or "whipped" as Boss describes it - being with Aisha definitely changed him, but i dunno if that encompasses everything he's gone through. he's fucking huge compared to how he used to be for one, and his demeanor is less "mellow" and more someone who's been grimly simmering in his own bitterness for half a decade, in prison no less. like man, that sure is a guy who's spent the last few years waiting for his own execution

so there's definitely a contrast between his demeanor and Boss' immaturity - the characters even somewhat acknowledge it - but they tend to bring out both the best and the worst in each other and that mitigates just how much Johnny's changed, he kinda stoops back down to Boss' level with disastrous consequences. letting yourself be lulled by wistful nostalgia only to have the facade shattered by harsh reality is definitely a central theme in the Ronin arc, and the rest of the game as well at least somewhat. also i'm not gonna lie, sometimes Johnny's genuinely just really fucking dumb in a way that's competely unrelated to his age and experience, like i wouldn't call either of them all that mentally flexible but Boss is definitely way more willing to learn and try out new stuff and change than Johnny is. i really wish we got a third game that actually explored how they and their relationship kept developing after sr2, especially with Boss "catching up" and if they'd even be capable of that at all, and if it'd be opposite with Johnny after he lost Aisha, if he'd stagnate or even regress (whatever that would mean in this context). like i wanna know if they could genuinely make it "work" after all the flailing and tragedy in sr2. the game ended on what i guess could be called a "happy" note for the characters, but it all feels very fragile and temporary for something that came at such a severe cost. sr2 as a whole really was a fantastic buildup to a climax that never materialized and Gat and Boss are no exception, no wonder so many people permanently got devastating brainworms from it

[vinkumakkara]

there's something about how Julius assassinates the Alderman when he tries to kill Boss, like there is potential for something genuinely radical about the whole thing. there's the unused intro scene for the sr2 prologue where he tells Boss' charred almost-corpse "it had to be done" and how he hopes they'll "understand some day". like there was something bigger at play there than just them and the Saints and ultimately Boss might have even been just collateral damage. like maybe while Julius was locked up by Monroe he saw behind the curtain and what ol Dick "based his campaign ads on literal nazi propaganda" Hughes was planning, mayor Winslow dead by Boss' hands and the Saints' reputation suddenly in tatters (apparently). killing both Hughes - and probably more than a few of his cronies - AND Boss could have led to a major power vacuum in the city that might have majorly changed Stilwater, for better or worse who knows, but it could've been something big. something new

but then you get to sr2 and listen to the tapes between Julius and Troy and Hughes' name isn't even mentioned AND you find out Julius worked with Ultor and Monica Hughes to further the Hughes-Hughes/Ultor-now-just-Ultor Initiative and it's just like a lot of conflicting emotions with this character. in the sr2 prologue Hughes' death is even rolled on BOSS' shoulders which is just fucking insane - like Boss fucking sucks as a person but they still genuinely got dragged through the mud by Julius so badly it makes me mad in a very entertained way. there's something extra frustrating about the whole thing when so many players just take his words during Revelation as gospel too - Boss was The Bad Guy who had to die, end of - makes it even more fun just how fucked up the whole thing is. the game was marketed as a revenge story for a very good reason but why it's a revenge story is something people just dismiss as Boss being a psychopath on a rampage, like they're just Like That and they've always been Like That because Julius just told us they're like that, and surely we can trust Julius! i love it. it's like a horrible itch in your brain you can't scratch but somehow it's also really fun

[vinkumakkara]

Boss takes their fist bumps with Johnny extremely seriously. they are no laughing matter. there's like a single jubilant one early on during the Ronin arc but beyond that they always look like they're filled with Grim Determination

[vinkumakkara]

kinda bold of Julius to ask Boss "what happened to you" in Revelation. like what does that mean, i thought the reason for why he decided to bbq Boss in the first place was because they're Just Like That? "it was the only way" and all. Boss just replying "i woke up" is so fuckin metal tho. like fuck you and fuck your gaslighting, old man

[vinkumakkara]

the overwhelming majority of the purple clothing available for Playa is all in the same shade of Saints purple while generic Saints you see walking around wear all kinda purples. Playa is reaaal particular when it comes to fashion after all, i wonder if in their eyes ppl are flying the wrong colors when they're not sticking to the correct shade and they're secretly super pissed off abt it