I Finally Made It.

Slugisode 36 is genuinely fascinating to me.

why did Eli's slugs get a purse for Eli. What's the occasion? why did they get a purse specifically? Eli was genuinely happy with it, was it because his slugs did something nice for him? Was it a gesture of companionship (maybe something not great happened to him before that?), or is the purse coded for something? like this wasn't a "haha guy got girl gift" thing because the gang takes it very literally. It's framed in a way that seems like it's supposed to tell us about these characters and their bonds but I can't crack the code.

the only 3 things I can grab from this are 1)"yay random acts of kindness! It's a kids show" 2) slugs think Eli would want a purse, fascinating and 3) this is lowkey a nod from the creators that the Shane gang are queer coded like WHAT DOES THIS MEDIA MEAN

So please give me ur slugisode 36 thoughts thanks :)

my honorable brain rot buddy, I would like to brain rot some more on this.

one: I don't see tads mom as a plot hole; more like a plot Pandora's box. They could basically do anything with her. But without something...yeah, a bit hallow. I like your idea though. I find compelling the idea that, whoever Blakk has a kid with, shares some type of ambition, just on the side of exploration instead of power. Like a more cynic view of a gar revelle type character.

Two: this is what makes blakk's irrationally ONLY for Eli so good! He wants power and will stoop to any level to get it, but besides that, he's perfectly fine with the world being a fair and just place. This will get overshadowed by ambition (grown from trauma of course), but if it doesn't interfere, he's fine w a lot of things. It's where all the "blakk is a chill boss sometimes" memes come from, and actually contributes to my personal headcanon that he's fruity!

but Eli. Eli Shane. And will Shane, and jimmo Shane. All pretense of "well if they're not in my way it's fine" flies out the window. Their mere existence (after ep 2/3, like u mentioned) is a hinderence, so Blakk stoops to his lowest. And the animosity BUILDS. Like blakk in ROTE wants Eli to suffer so BADLY that he gives up his team's win? Just to keep him alive? so the full story of his character is: femenist as long as it doesn't negatively effect him. When it effects him, he rationally destroys the obstacle. And if your the Shane's...it crosses into an irrational hate, at some point, where the original ideal of "anything for power" crosses into the sadistic, how is this in a kids show, "anything for a power that would harm the Shane's". it's actually a good representation of how anyone can fall into evil. Be situational instead of steadfast with your feminism, and you excuse yourself for some bad shit. and when ppl don't like what your doing to them, you hold grudges, which situationally, are super logical to keep...at first...till suddenly, when you plan out what world you wanna live in, it literately MUST include the suffering of those enemies. It's a toxic pool to fall into. We see that constantly in the real world...

I love this show.

"Sad Mage, you fool, Dr. Blakk can't be a feminist he's-" [gets smacked with a pan]

"Silence heathen, you know not my reasons!"

♤

First, to quote a fic i read

"Im a businessman, not a monster" - Dr. Thaddius Blakk

And i have never agreed more.

Blakk is a horrible guy with little to no redeeming qualities, but here's the thing-

He's not like, a major d¡cƙ either.

Sure, he's a jerk to a lot of his employees, but he's not outright crule either.

Remember, Thaddius Blakk was once a traumatized kid who was to claw his way to the top. And probably witnessed a punch of messed up crap while Viggo Dare was still in charge.

And FYI a true feminist cares about men's problems

Blakk is equally himself to just about everyone he meets, you know what your getting into when you get involved with a guy like him.

Blakk does not care if you are man, woman human, elf, Moleinoid, Cave Troll, have money, or are a poor orphan on the street - all the man cares about is whether or not you're useful.

Feminism, at its core, is equality for women and men. To be on equal footing in every possible way. No discrimination. Just equal rights and equal fights.

[This next bit is kinda a tangent, tbh but i feel like it helps explain my 'Blakk genuinely dose not care' mindset]

Hell, he tried to convince Eli he wasn't all that bad when they first met, and had it not been for Burpy and the suddenly showing the young Shane that Ghoul Slug, Blakk might have convinced Eli he wasn't a threat had things just played out differently.

Blakk didn't officially become Eli's antagonist until Eli declined any sort of 'professional relationship' with him and then declare 'war' in episode 3. Because at that moment before being turned down, Eli Shane, was useful in some capacity. Even if that usefulness would have involved a lot of manipulation.

On top of that, he doesn't undermine Trixie either. While he may not personally know her name, he knows enough that Trixie Sting is an obstacle and a threat. And treats her as such.

And probably made sure his henchmen knew as much.

Then there's Dana

He went out of his way to higher one of the best Highered Marks just to track Dana down, get his blaster back, and get rid of her. Blakk, could easily not care about something like a Blaster, Blakk Industries makes them for crying out loud, he probably has a collection of them! But he goes out of his way to get that one Blaster back from Dana, and then make an example of her. Even went as far as to show up in-person to make sure.

A thing, he wouldn't do just for anyone.

Blakk's fits are rated E for Everyone

The man does not care who you are, prove yourself useful, he'll pull the strings to get you on his side, prove to be a nuisance, and you'll be dealt with accordingly regardless of who you are.

Hence me HCing the man as a Feminist.

You can stand on business, have upstanding morals, all while still being a horrible individual.

It's like Odalia from TOH. She doesn't care, Amity is into girls, she just doesn't like Luz and the rest of her daughters friends because 'their beneath them', and she wants to rule over the Demon Realm.

Same thing with Emperor Belos/Philip. The guy grew up during the era of witch hunts, yet two of his most trusted individuals were women(or female identifying). While he was going to ultimately pull off the biggest witch extermination in history, he didn't care who was working for him, as long as they were useful and fulfilled a purpose. He doesn't underestimate Luz for being a girl, just young and nieve, before getting bitch slapped with the reality this human is more resourceful then he was.

-

Now to touch on something @mrros-e my brain rot buddy in crime mentions in the tags.

How Blakk being a Feminist effects his relationship with whomever Tads mom was.

Jokes on you, friend, because i hc Tad is an oops, baby.

Yeah, that's right, Blakk had a fling with a lady, and she got knocked up and didn't tell Blakk sht

I don't know where the idea of Blakk having to have been married or even a committed relationship to have a baby spawned from, but with as much networking that guy probably had to do while building up Blakk Industries it's safe to assume he met ppl and had a few casual flings.

One of which resulted in Tad.

(And this is not me discrediting/bashing the hc of Blakk having a wife/romance partner, I think its an interesting concept and adds onto Blakk still being a human even though he may act like a monster, a concept i very much so like and will champion because i love complex villains like Blakk. But for the sake of this particular narrative and the limited clues given in cannon, lets pretend otherwise)

The woman, somehow leaving Slugterra and to the Surface, is a plot whole (let's be real, it is). But ignoring it, and just assume the lady was a Surface dweller who would sneak down to Slugterra for fun, and met Blakk by chance.

And when she did realize she was pregnant, she had a choice, and at first she wanted to tell Blakk, he was the baby's father after all, but by then Blakk had developed his reputation, and when she tried some probably thought she was after his money or something.

You know, because people suck.

So by the time Blakk learned of the pregnancy, the Lady had returned to the Surface and swore off coming down to Slugterra ever again. (For reasons)

Blakk probably tried to track her down, but was stumped because there where no records of her ever exiting in Slugterra, and then he remembered bits of their conversations, and how it sounded like she wasn't from Slugterra but the mythical world above.

Thus, his obsession with Shane Secrets begins.

I have a completely different post in my drafts I'm working on, but it relates to this a bit, and the gist of it is, Blakk would have support the woman who was pregnant and any decisions she made, but also given Tad everything he didn't have as a kid.

Again, absolutely horrible individuals can have completely, perfectly normal morals and standards. You can have a monster, give them a humanizing trate, and still be irredeemable.

Dr. Thaddius Blakk is a villain of the highest degree, but he has standards damn it.

This was an incoherent rant of a Mage in desperate need of sleep

Peace ♤

a bit of a tangent, but even though I've played flute since 4th grade, I never truly liked it till freshman year of highschool.

because I brought my instrument home, and didn't even care what I sounded like. I put on headphones and badly played along to Green Day and MCR, without being able to hear myself. It destroyed by sense of tonality, actually, till college. But damn, just feeling an instrument played in my hands connected me to the life and art around me. I loved it. I had loved art (and even fandom) way before that, but that year was the first time I found an outlet, where I could contribute to it all. I became addicted to this feeling (as seen by the content I post on tumblr and my irl occupation as a music educator).

and now I must answer the age-old (American) question in every public school and to every parent: why music? What's the monetary benefit?

and like, no I don't care if your kid is the next Mozart. I do care about them progressing in a craft, enjoying art and life, and doing things for the simple stake of doing them. I guess if all we care about is a brand, that is worthless. But if we care about living life to the fullest...

You can learn a lot about a person just by how they interact with art. Art does not have to be a brand, which, as a brand, would include standing for some message, or product. Art can, and has historically been, as mindless as breathing.

Art is not for the talented: it is for the human.

also we fucked up as a society the moment we started telling teens and aspiring artists to conflate being an artist with building a brand as if the two things are inextricable. the name of the game if you want to share your art is to work a job and sell yourself as aesthetizied content. back in my day we could just POST SHIT. to deviantart! what the fuck!

YALL

I'm rewatching slug fu showdown.

and I realized - the flute part pronto plays during master shanai's funeral? It's actually played twice in the show.

the second time? THE FIRST SCENE OF JUN TEACHING ELI.

BRIAN CARSON I LOVE YOU IM CRYING THATS BEAUTIFUL.

It transforms from a sound of loss; for life, and for Eli's education and knowledge of the world...into wonder and hope, because he's found a new teacher, and a new friend. That's BEAUTIFUL.

ive always thought if kord herd one of his friends in pain on the other side of a door he'd reduce that door into splinters, like this

This is now Cannon,

No arguments

Kord can and will Kool-aid Man himself through a wall to help his friends

YES YES YES YES YES GLORIOUS ART WHAT AN HONOR YOUR HONOR

Little snippet of a convo Will Shane and Tom Por are having in the fic(there both like 19 btw)

[for some context, they are watching a duel between two skilled trick shot duelist]

“I noticed, think something like that could be useful in a head to head shoot out?” Will asked. 

“You kidding? misdirection is never not useful Shane,” Tom snorted, “Though, ide say your years off from their level”

“Like you're a better shot!” Will snapped. 

“Compared to those two? No way. But you? It's hardly a competition,” Tom snarked with a smirk, as Will gasped dramatically. 

“And here I thought we were friends!” Will feigned causing Tom to chuckle. 

[Their silly little bros your honor!]

Are slugs from Slugterra consider, fairy animals in the perspective of fairies from Winx Club/World of Winx?

imma be so real - I love questions pls give me all ur inquiries, even the non slugterra ones cause I have a lot of niche interests and I do know a lot of different fandoms, I just have no idea what winx club is......

My friends and I were just talking about the Shane family tree and we realized it gets a bit confusing.

Like Jimmon Shane from my perspective didn’t have kids ( maybe he did have kids and we never knew about them) yet will being his nephew takes over the Shane name after he retires. But shouldn’t have gone to his will’s father ( Eli’s grandfather) instead so that way it would have been easier to pass down through generation to generation.

Man just thinking about it makes me and my friends head spin 😵‍💫 Really wish the writers could have done something about this to make it more clear about the family tree.

YES YES IT IS!!!! i actually wrote a fic exploring this a bit called "Burned Away" on ao3 - and it will not be my last time exploring the older shanes. i love them!

My theory actually has to do with Master Shanai. The most likely explanation, disregarding the what-ifs about will's parents dying and whatnot, is that Master Shanai only chooses one student to train - hence, if there's shanes that are cousins/siblings who would take up the mantle in the same era, Master Shanai would choose the most combat-worthy, or who has the most heart, that type of deal. And then the unchosen spend more time on the surface, or specialize in something like tech or recon or just helping where they can (especially as they grow older and gotta care for kids). in Burned Away, I made will's dad the one chosen by shanai and jimmo mainly raised will instead, on the surface ,while his brother (wills dad) was the acting shane, and they would swap out every once and a while. I also made jimmo a nerd about slug biology and health but thats like a complete HC.

Point is, its most likely that theres more shanes, and we just know the ones who were chosen by master shanai. I wrote that fic for drama and all, but its much more likely that jimmo was the chosen pupil, but had a brother/cousin and they had a kid, and in the next generation, it was nephew will shane who would be chosen next. This actually makes more sense than just "the kid gets it" - it makes sure the most promising shane gets the title and if any of them turn evil shanai just wouldnt choose them. I think this is how the shanes have lasted so long. though, what has happened to make it so the family tree has dwindled and will had ONLY eli left for the next generation of shanes...that lies in HC territory.

I started working today, then got an idea for a slugterra gay time travel fic, and spent an hour rough-drafting the plot...wtf is wrong with meeeee

my notes app is deranged, and long, and in so many ways I am doomed