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 ♤
Slugterra: a cautionary tale on why queer people need to stay friends with their ex's
HOLD UP HOW WAS I NOT AWARE OF THIS
@temperance-sunlight and @a-sad-mage, u both make all fantastic points. I really like the idea of the non-nuclear family, and the importance of who raises kids over who has them, and no real world-wide custom in Slugterra! and like, religion is fascinating w the Shadow Clan. and omfg, no one tried to claim they were a shane!!! I chalked that up to maybe the ppl being suspicious of the Shane's and their secrets and skill and whatnot, so no one would dare mess with them, but yeah no what if property and stuff just doesn't legally operate so everyone would call bs on that immediately? We saw that eli had to prove himself over a long tournament.
oooo, the rabbit holes....
*takes big breathe* HOW DOES MARRIAGE WORK IN SLUGTERRA?!?
like, how do our religious and secular norms of things translate to down there? How does it legally affect couples in terms of owning property? And healthcare?!?
honestly, do they HAVE marriage as a concept legally? It's pretty anarchist/capitalist down there. Would they even HAVE a legal mechanism to tie 2 ppl together like that?
...genuinely, maybe they don't, or only some caverns do.
JUNJIE X ELI! this is only ch2 - i split up this chap so this is more of the bromance chapter but i hope yall enjoy all the same
im so powerful when i procrastinate -
specifically, when the Goon implies Eli's a better host than Junjie.
now, this doesn't make much sense at first. Junjie is the more experienced fighter. He has wrist blasters. He knew a lot about the eastern caverns and thus had the information to steal about how to conquer them. But then...
and this is what got me to making this post. Junjie is super powerful and knows those caverns, so he was a "good host" and all. But Junjies main source of slugslinging proficiency is actually his Slug-Fu.
Something we don't see the Goon be able to do. Is it because it's impractical as he's mind controlling? Or that his chi isn't powerful enough? Possibly. I don't think the goon is able to do slug-fu, I think we would have seen him use it by now if they did. But the goon obviously didn't need it to cause damage to the east.
Now, into the west. Eli's powers were never spiritual or anything like that, they were all tech based. Blasters, mechs, slug biology...they amped those up for the war with Blakk. I think megamorphs were a thing in the east, but could only be made and controlled using blasters/experienced slingers (or at least that's what I'm rolling with, since it is admittedly hard to excuse the show for being so mute about the blaster tech in the east). so the goon controlled Eli and his ghouled bandoleer and shot his super good blaster and megamorphs and was like "omg, this champion has power I can more easily exploit! Score!"
and then the goon in ROTE is like "nah wills better, he's got Eli's blaster and junjie's level of knowledge about these caverns, this one's my fav"
and, onfg what would the scene if Will getting gooned looked like, what did his head look like, how did the goon taunt him, especially after meeting his son and Will not knowing anything about what's happened since he got sent to hell, OMFG DAMN IT ANOTHER PLOT BUNNY-
I love the little details of the show lmaoooo
I was just thinking about this if you had rewritten Slugterra accession what would you do differently? Would you bring back Dr.Blakk as the main antagonist? Or would you bring in a new villain for the Shane gang to go up against? Let me know what you think.
soory yall ive been so busyyyy BUT
Blakk would have a lasting effect, but he would not be the main antagonist. at least not for a while. cause i think this show could have been so loooooooong....id introduce blakk in like season 7 lol. honestly, slugterra has a rich tapestry of small compelling villains, with some being more important than others depending on their alliances. i'd bring back the old classics (saturday, cc, twist, maurice, blite, you name it) and also add new players - ones that grew undr blakk's shadow, ones that were released/escaped from prison for some reason, ones that hid to wait out blakk's plans and now finally feel ready to make their debut, or even some legendary evil ppl that in age have come to terrorize one cavern and, compacent, their terror hasn't been on wider slugterra's radar. and hell, it could be people killing, or controlling, but it could also be small stuff again, like a kid abusing slugs, or other implicited abusive stuff going on (cause kid show, but cmonnnn, its slugterra, they are so good at being like "yes ur honor this dude was mind controlled for 20 years and we simply let the audience look into the explicit behaviors that we animated for him afterwards" they could so do that w harsher subjects)
i would do...everything different. keep the gang together. have everyone - especially eli - grapple with the concept of how to move forward and make slugterra better - stopping those slug markets and whatnot - while also contending with their trust issues (and possible depression, in elis case) after tad. out with the universal slug or whatever, bring in wtf dana's been doing with the shadow walker - maybe shes been exploring shadow clan territory in the south and calls the shane gang when she finds new shane secrets/treasure. maybe his could be a segmented like a show - some episodes are the gang trying to fight crime but also help people out, supporting programs that make the world better, and the other half is involving a tense plotline with the shadow clan about uncovering the stuff dana found (maybe a secret passage to the back end of the deep caverns, in a cavern that's thin enough to where the shadow walker could just barely manage to take a traveler to the other side). In both plots, old and new characters get introduced and recontextualized in the absence of Blakk, especially Twist, who would probably come back in the context of "hey, why not help out the gang covertly into finding will and rescuing him so i can kill him or something!", getting more evil from his time and trauma w blakk but then as eli's hero worship of the shanes and will decays further it prompts him to come back to the good side?
That was a rant but yeah - came up w that on the fly. But I actally wrote a little of a story involving after ItS - one called "I'm sorry, I dont know what the moon looks like tonight", whose later scenes take place after ItS, and TEAL "To End A Legacy" (which is my first slgterra fanfic) where i continued the slugterra plot....in a really dark way...and IM GONNA FINISH IT 2025 IS THE YEAR I FINISH THINGS I SWEAR-
find me on ao3 at Mister Rose, i havent done stuff in a little bit but ill come back i always do (post 2017)
okay so i know NOTHING about how illnesses work. However, would the Shane family's genetics probably stemming from both slugterran and surface humans effect disease tolerance? for all we know, maybe his genetic make-up from both slugterrans and surface beings in his bloodline make him resilient to certain stuff we'd consider potentially harmful to him.
not to mention - eli hasn't been walled from slugterra bacteria his whole life. Will went back and forth, and his slugs did, too! Maybe Eli got all the slugterra sicknesses on the surface when he was a kid and Will and Jimmo had to come up with clever excuses to doctors to not let the secret out.
Quickly circling back to the one post about Eli having to go to the Doctor
I just remembered a fun fact about diseases.
(That you weird obsession with the Medieval Era)
Eli Shane, should be getting sick.
Even if he's up to date with his shots from the surface, unless Will snuck vaccines for any diseases for Slugterra, Eli should be contracting some kind of illness exclusive to the Caverns.
On top of that, Eli also poses a risk to the 99 Caverns as well because, Chicken Pox, Polio, mumps- hell the common flu from the surface would wreck havoc on the Vitamin D deficient residents of the Caverns.
And this isn't covering, like potential allergies exclusive to Slugterra. I bet you there is at least one person who is allergic to slug's, or a specific kind of slug.
So with that context in mind,
While at the Doctors, they do a quick allergy test and, turns out, Eli is allergic to the vines/plants made by Vindrill Slugs, and a very specific deep Sea Cavern fish.
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.