🎫 here's a gush pass ^^ feel free to gush about whichever f/o you want, however much you want, then send this ask to 3 other selfshippers
I SHALL TALK ABOUT DAN SMITH CAUSE IT‘S THE ONLY THING I CAN DO AND THINK ABOUT RN.
okay so Dan is a badass character, like he’s nicknamed ‘THE HELLION’ for his calculating shots from his gun/revolver. Like?? That’s SUCH A BADASS NICKNAME??! like?? it’s something that would strike fear in the hearts of the most evil men imaginable!
ALSO LOOK AT THE WAY HE HOLDS HIS GUN
I mean - I have strange taste but honestly like?? it exudes not only character, charm and personality but like it’s such a telling pose to tell people that ‘you’re tired of this shit’ but also like??? It’s KINDA HOT?? Like I’m sorry I can’t help but SWOON OVER THIS POSE.
look at this suave assassin man- look at him!
DANNY‘S ONE LINERS- I LOVE THEM
Dan has a few lines in the game especially in regards to the fact that it really isn’t dialogue heavy - and while he is a main-side character but only in the sense that he’s playable and there’s only some side story that’s pretty important to him but after that there’s no real further deep dive. What he does say however is like??? iconic in it own right?? I mean I adore his lines and catchphrases, it builds and gives life to his character and personality - painting a picture of an assassin/hitman who doesn’t GIVE A CRAP. The only thing on his mind is that he’s got a job to do and he’s gonna do it as swiftly and as efficiently as possible.
oh those quotes and one liners?:
“Wait here.”
“This is too easy.”
"What? Is this a bad time? I hope I'm not interrupting. Or am I?"
and then there are some that make me chuckle cause they are so freaking edgy but at the same time I love it??
"You wanna die?! Huh?!"
"I feel my blood rushing through my body. Yes... This is it. The feeling is coming back to me! The sensation of killing! The doom and darkness. The dark streets. They're calling me. Calling me to the ultimate ring!"
"Let me ask you, what happens to your prophecy if I shoot you right now?"
who the fuck says that IRL ??? NO ONE But Dan Smith. And I FREAKING LOVE IT.
i just really like Danny smith, he’s cool and he’s suave and most importantly he hunt the heaven’s smile.
A fragment of henry/shallow ship lore that’s been stuck in the drafts forever. No, I’m not joking, it's been stuck in there since April 23rd, 2023 back when I was hyperfixated on NMH and mister sir Henry. It’s one of the only real post from my drafts that’s considered a ‘completed thought’, hence why I’m posting it just to get it out there. This post has been edited though slightly, but it’s mostly the original post in-tact. I do warn you it kinda has an abrupt ending, because again I’m just not fixated on Grasshopper games to think about a smoother ending for this post.
So if you’ve genuinely missed my Henry/Shallow self ship, here’s some extra crumbs for you.
Contains Major spoilers for No More Heroes 3.
A small yet vital aspect to the Henry/Shallow ship lore is how the Order of the Emerald Knights, will always pledge their full allegiance to Shallow, even in AUs where she doesn't join Henry. like there are many alternate timelines of my self ship with Henry that kind of work as their own AUs.
There are instances where she joins him in his crusade against the Cooldown family, but there are instances where Henry wants to keep Shallow (and his daughter Jeane), safe from the clutches of his adoptive family and kinda leaves them to undertake the impossible, suicide-like mission alone.
like there's one specific AU where Shallow doesn't join Henry, and that when you fast forward to NMH3 to the Flesh and Blood episode, instead of Travis fighting Henry, it's Shallow - and in this timeline she defeats him in battle (although it is a VERY emotional fight).
When the cut-scene occurs of her standing over a defeated Henry, she basically asks him to yield (all the while pointing her own beam katana at him) which causes the arrival of the Order of the Emerald Knights to intervene.
The Order of the Emerald Knights is… admittedly a very left-field late introduction to the series (they do appear in TSA briefly), but in NMH3 they’re… either clones of Henry (which is a whole can of worms in of itself and has a lot of implications as cloning is impiled to be possible + where do you think the Guys in the Bad Girl’s batting chamber are coming from?) or are different Henrys from alternate universes. It’s genuinely unclear but it again it’s… a late inclusion in the series, especially when you realise Henry was potentially a character put in the game late in development.
Back on track: The Emerald Knights were watching Shallow and Henry’s fight the whole time on the rooftops of the No More Heroes Hotel, and they jumped in to intervene, thinking that she was going to kill their leader. Their swords are drawn and pointed against her, but they haven't actually attacked her, but it's more so a 'threat' more than anything else. Anyways their appearance genuinely surprises Shallow, and realising her predicament, turns off her beam katanas and disarms herself to de-escalate the situation.
Henry doesn’t get back up yet, if anything hems still kinda taking in the fact that the love of his life has bested him in battle. From his POV, it has been so long since they’ve had a real competitive fight together and this fight was one he genuinely enjoyed and savoured. He does order the Knights to 'kindly stand down,' 'that they [Shallow], isn't the enemy'. An injured Henry makes a stand again, which alerts the knights, who lower their weapons in response to seeing their leader rise to zeir feet.
Henry approaches Shallow, and the two for a moment, stand there in the middle of the No More Heroes Motel Carparking lot, and just... kinda take in the surrounding silence around them. There is a moment when Henry finally takes off his glasses, and Shallow briefly looks at him, only to feel like a goddamn schoolgirl with a crush and looks away from him while visibly blushing. she whispers 'goddamn you're more beautiful than i remember', it's vaguely audible enough that maybe Henry and his knights hear her words.
The two assassins exchange some form of PDA/affection with one another, Henry, ever the gentleman, takes the initiative to greet her by kissing the back of her hand, as if she were royalty (he understands that she's not the best with one-on-one direct eye contact, hence the gesture). Shallow, touch starved goes in to hug him tightly, which is something Henry hesitates to reciprocate at first, but he does eventually give in and hugs her back. Perhaps Henry gives Shallow a forehead kiss or just a regular old romantic kiss.
From there the Knights kinda look at each other, and realise 'oh, this is a person Henry cares about, they are an ally. We must be ready and able to assist them in any instance she needs.' It results in them kneeling like actual knights, as which is their way of pledging allegiance to someone.
Henry gives her an offer to join him in his crusade and the Emerald Knights but emphasizes that she can decline this offer.
In this AU, Henry isn't done taking down his adopted family (look it’s a whole thing I have in my head!), and still doesn't want to put Shallow (and Jeane Cooldown) at risk. In addition to this AU, Henry never initiated the alien invasion of earth like in the original game, if anything he's just minding his own business in this timeline.
I should stress that, Henry insists that Shallow can make whatever choice she desires and that he would never hold faer's decision against her. He won't use it to get to her, he won't resent her, he would understand simply because A) this is a person he deeply cares about and B) he'd prioritize her happiness over his own, even if it's at the cost of his own heartbreak.
(This is where the initial post stopped, I genuinely don’t remember if it was supposed to stop there or continue onwards.)
I’m going to be one of those weirdos playing the silver case who bothers to pull a pen and paper out to jot notes down and use it to decrypt stuff manually.
I think the reason why I’m so drawn to SMT is because the their more current games have a similar visual aesthetic to grasshopper manufacture games, specifically killer7, killer is dead and the no more heroes series.
reading old no more heroes fanfiction is so weird, because it's like. hey these people have ambitious ideas as to what to do with building on the infrastructure of santa destroy. and yet the tragedy of so many of them not being completed, people losing interest, moving on from their lives beyond fandom, finding new interests etc.
obviously there are more humor based fics, but the ones that are serious and have interesting ideas i would have never really expected to take the series in. most of these people's ideas (especially with the united assassins association) are kinda close to the canon version, i mean in-universe the uaa literally hosts death match like it was a wrestling pay-per-view event where the big money bringer is literally a livestreamed snuff film in real time (no really, that's what it is in nmh. it's absolutely horrifying.)
what i would give to read the final versions of these people's fics or just look over any remaining story or lore notes they had written. it kinda helps fuel my own creative energy into my own... idk direction? world building ideas that i would want to explore that haven't been touched in nmh.
(yet another self indulgent canon divergent timeline of N.M.H3 that no one asked for)
He.nry: before we settle this fight. can i at least see my significant other and my daughter first?
Tra.vis, realising that he has to break the news that Shallow Candy is in a coma due to Je.ss-Bapti.ste IV's ambush on them earlier in the week and forgot to tell Hen.ry about it:
I have to say it but Travis's place is the LEAST comfortable place ever. Why Travis didn't take Henry to the hospital is BEYOND me but maybe the healthcare system in Santa Destroy is in shambles or something idk.
