My Friend Wants To Know Something And I To Want To Know As Well, This Is His Question “how Come Nacho’s

What are your thoughts about the southern and northern caverns if the show had kept on going? And what would you think they would look like in your perspective?

aye, thanks for the question!

the north and southern caverns....if u mean like as new realms entirely, imma be so real for a second, im not too big on headcanoning other worlds (and oc's either) for slugterra. like i love the creativity, but theres so much in canon to draw from and expand that i feel very, very aimless and antithetical against the show for really giving the idea much thought. the west and the east cover all the caverns of the world for me, and theres already SO MUCH space for headcanon-ing different cultures and characters there, especially in the eastern caverns! not to mention the burning world, which can kinda be as close to real life as we want it to be.

the northern and southern caverns do exist tho - they are the northern and southern caverns of the 2 worlds we know of in the show in my head, and the wikis dont say much about them. They are more barren than the more central caverns due to the extreme temperatures and historically being less of a place to live, and more as a place for researchers (and capitalists?) to explore and study. Tis could also be a hub for the explorer types like Andre from a distant shore, and hunting big creature types (because im sure the less populous creatures we see in the show live in those outskirts, hence why we only see a cyclops in a city center once in the west). I also like the idea of slugterran history from long ago happening there, and it being a bit of a taboo to explore (except for the explorers themselves, who can point to this taboo danger to explain how cool they are and ask for funding) - in my fic We Can Be Saved (WHICH I WILL FINISH) i go into a northern cavern mentioned in one of the mobile games and it was really fun adding slugterra history to Bonny Cavern, webbing the history of boon docs with the shadow clan, the shanes, cave trolls, and humans desperate for a healer.

I havent thought as much about the southern caverns, but I imagine large sentient bugs being more popular there (like the spiders from slug-fu showdown, the cave of which i hc to be in the south), and it being so dangerous that only experienced hunters go there for game. I especially like the detail in slugterra that all the caverns implied to be more southern dont have alot of life and flora - and most notably, a water source. living beings like not traveling for water! and apparently Mr. Saturday is from there, and considering his accent, using a staff, and face paint, maybe there is a secluded cavern of humans down there who live pretty differently! we know the cave trolls and moles have some different clans, i can see a slugterra where most humans banded together, but one or 2 caverns stayed pretty tight-knit and away from broad society, mainly the ones on the frays near the end of the world/shadow clan territory (that dont provide mining/exploration oppurtunnity for the main culture, of course, like the king of sling's cavern). I also like the idea of there being less roads in the north and south, due to the cave trolls knowing less about the inhabitants there and not making deals to pave their caverns, so naturally the average slugterran citizen won't off-road to these places without very good reason.

and mostly, i think there'd be more shane and shadow clan secrets, especially in the northeast edge of the map. theres a reason the king of sling and the town there is sparse, but very much alive. i can totally see there being a shane hideout nearby.

also? none of any of this applies to the eastern north and south caverns. from what little we saw, the eastern shadow clan actually is okay with other species's, and the groups are more integrated, which means that the cultures on the fringes of their map may be anything from spiritually relevant caverns to just regular cities with roads and relations to the rest of their world. no matter what hc's i'd go with, i'd want to keep this contrast, as i think this really highlights what slugterra is good at - implicitely making the shanes and their world an incredibly sketcky topic if you think and compare it to other places for too long.

i'm not writing this exact scene, but i am writing something very similar.

...lowkey, ive been writing for 12 hours straight....

Going back to the questions that tad and twist are in how much you want to bet that when junjies comes to visit and brings his master with him ( to see the western part) twist instantly gets ptsd just from seeing her?

Yes

Twist is not okay he has not been okay, and seeing Junjie's Master, Lian is not helping him.

Obviously, he knows they are different people, but they look alike. And for the entire visit, Twist can't look Lian in the eyes and does not want to be left alone in a room with her.

He needs therapy so badly

Eventually, I think he gets cornered and has a mini breakdown about his part in what happened to Unbeatable Master Shanai and his overall guilt.

haha, love it! Ur so right. I'd just like to add a brief HC;

so I'm a rifle instructor at a gun range for a junior club. At the end of our sessions the instructors pick up the shells - only the ones to be reused or sold as scrap, though. It's possible that depending on the material (being biodegradable or valuable) slingers would just leave it there.

furthermore (this is probs wack to the average person oops) a lot of kids like going into the firing range (WHEN THE RANGE IS COLD) to help clean up the shells, and it's not uncommon that when a kid sees a cool looking one (it's big, it's dirty, it's dented, it's neon pink, it's green, it was rare ammo, it was EXPENSIVE ammo, the shape is funny) they'll pick it up and keep it as a keepsake. I got a few from my own junior days. (Just please, please wash you hands after touching ammo shells. Cold water. Must be cold water. 30 seconds. Soap. Orange Non-lead soap if you can. Lead exposure is NOT FUN.)

so....new hc, I think kids in Slugterra pick up shells for fun, plus they are useful when getting older and they're learning how to shoot. But if they're really well-working or expensive, or could be sold for scrap, the slingers themselves go through great lengths to get back their shells. (Not to mention - the rarer the gun (like Eli's), the less compatible the chamber is to the average shell., unless shell and chamber sizes and blaster force have been following a set standard across blaster shops for decades already). They would not be laying on the ground for long. You would not believe how obsessed range officers get at their scrap metal deposit side-hussle...the janitor stole the lead my coach was gonna deposit one year...

This has been bugging me ever since I got into Slugterra: Where the hell do slug shells even come from? Do slingers pick them up after duels? Is there a limit to the number of times a shell can used to sling? I have my own ideas but I like hearing other people.

Im dumb when it comes to technical stuff, but for me, these three Slugidoes help when having to think about this kind of thing

[SI-2 Blasters and You]

[SI-6 Slug Retrieval]

[SI-14 A Bried History of Slugslinging]

I SWARE there was a Slugidoe that explained the Shell/Berrals thing, but I might have hallucinated it, or it was explained in an episode briefly-

But the long of my take is that they are manufactured by Balster manufacturers and are used to house slugs while on the move and for loading them into a blaster.

Before Blasters Slingers(and slugs) would use just about anything to help a slug reach their Valosimorph.

The Shells/Berrals are reusable, and depending on the type of blaster you own, it will determine how much of a mess you make in a duel lmao

For instance, there are Gatling typ blasters but they don't fart out Shells/Berrals like a Gatling gun would after firing, the Shells are hooked to the blaster, like a revolver, and rotate, allowing a Slinger to shoot multiple slugs in quick succession, and reload multiple slugs as once, at the disadvantage of it being heavy, and take a bit longer to load.

One Shell/Berrals Blasters, like Eli's typically have you pushing out the previous shell to load in a new one with a slug in it already, but I believe it's been shown a slug can be loaded into a blaster with a Shell already in it and fired.

Over all clean up depends on the situation.

Tournament? Cleaning crew most likely.

Duel against an enemy? Probably collecting them after the fights over, or there probably staying on the ground, see the Episode Bandoler of Brothers for an example of that.

Probably a whole job to go out and collect them.

Overall, Shells/Berrals are a reusable resource, with the only limitations being how many you can carry on your person at a time and what's needed for the model of blaster you own!

I also like to think they are customizable!

Blakk Industries makes red Berrals, though they might just be stained from Dark Water lol

it's actually confuzzling me rn, what that average slugterran knows.

Eli knew the deep caverns, but not dark bane specifically, or that dark water exists. Kord talks about dark water like it's something trolls have stories about, but not much experience with. and the Shane's have a drop for the chasm that leads to the portal from what lies beneath, which feels overkill in terms of hiding their stuff. Unless:

maybe they know of the deep caverns, but it's more of a legend that's considered probably true to people, like dark water. Like they know there's a hell down there, but till...recent history...no one went down there, so who knows what was down there? And the Shane's were fine with that very shallow understanding.

this assumption is also helped by the common misconception of the shadow clan. Slugterra society's view of them is based on legend, even though they are easier to see, and definitely believed to be real. Maybe slugterrans know it very basically as "the evil ppl in hell and the evil shadow clan fought like a trillion years ago, ooo scary", and only a few experts know the truth (blakk reading the sacred texts possibly depicting this history comes to mind).

...I'm sure I'm missing a line in some early episode that clears things up, but the show actually does a decent job of giving us the smallest possible clues ever and keeping this fandom alive on 40% "WAIT I JUST REALIZED" moments, so I'd love to hear any scenes you all remember that can help this discussion

Why did it take 4 rewatches of s1 to realize Eli says "if blakk has buisness w the deep caverns we don't know what else can can do" at the end of the deadweed episode?

meaning, will ACTUALLY told him about the deep caverns?!?!? And knew the whole time?!?

ROTE: my incoherent rambles

whenever Burpy is ghouled/gooned/sick in the show, Eli is SO. DISTRAUGHT. or at least happy when Burpy is freed. Like, pets their head, says "hi", smiles to them, quipps a joke; something to show Burp that their human is very happy they're back.

I watched the will shane gets cured scene again, and I forgot that Burpy is also ghouled there; the shot that saved his dad also freed Burpy. And does Eli retrieve Burpy, like he usually does?

No. He immediately thinks the worst, walking up to his dad on the ground. Burpy doesn't even cross his mind. And Burpy's chill with it, hopping to will shane just like Eli did. After all, Burpy and Eli only really bonded after Will's disappearance; he obviously knows how much the man means to his son.

Its a great way to subtly hit the viewer with how big and tragic it all is. Imagine watching lightwell and ROTE back to back? Eli nearly sacrifices himself for Burpy a million times, and would again and again and again. But then his dad returns, and the fabric of time (and our understanding of the lore) changes dramatically.

So much so that, in the chaos, Eli touch-Burpy-and-I-will-kill-you Shane has bigger fish to fry that Burpy being back. Its startling to watch. It's something so small, but so impactful. It's even made more clear when Jun - who we learn in slug-fu showdown demands more time from his slugs to trust them - warmly greets Joo-Joo again, and thats the only time we ever really see that from him. and even will says "hello, old friend." and after that? Burpy isn't even ANIMATED, OR ON SCREEN for the last 5 minutes. Like Burpy isn't a main feature of the battle. thats BIZZARE. until...the promise to save his dad. Burpy retook Eli's shoulder, right next to doc.

When else do we see Eli not go above and beyond for his slugs? When others show more care for their team than he does? Never, actually.

It was just there, when he realized he still had a dad, and needed to speak to him first. He's in full "omg dad's here and alive" mode. Of course he is; but a lesser show would have had him reunite with burpy. The end of ROTE is a very harrowing slugterra watch, and its little details like this that made it so poignant. Eli's slugs took the backseat to his dad, on screen and as a part of the narrative itself, till Eli needed them again when he lost his dad for deeply sorrowful second time.

If you ever rewatch this show, keep a very close eye on burpy. What they're doing, how they react to events. Knowing the little guys been around for thousands of years and probably knows all the shane secrets makes all the little emotions fascinating. one of the best things I noticed was when Will saved eli on the ground with burpy; Burpy was growling at blakk while being shot. We havent seen him growl like that since....eli first met Dr Blakk in episode 1 of the entire show. I now see that shot as Burpy's true revenge, for that moment 5 years ago; Will got to shoot Burpy and land a hit with them on the monster who sent him to the deep caverns. Justice at last, for both of them...till, you know.

I'll leave off with one more note: in the show, especially pre-movies, Eli looks to burpy for advice constantly. It's never pointed out, but Eli always checks in: "do i tell them this?" "Is this the right move", etc. When the five of them promise, he didn't have to check. Either he didn't need a second opinion - he knew what his mission was - and/or he already assumed burpy was in agreement. I don't know if eli "grows up" during the slugterra timeline - its only a year - but he does gain more confidence in himself. And thats not him getting over past trauma or not feeling guilty over things anymore - thats on him becoming more accustomed to looking ahead instead of behind him. Like what jun said to pull him back.

If you catch me on ao3, I'm fascinated with the shows absolute hatred toward backstories. I think that's convenient for the writers, duh, but I also interperet it as a mirroring of the shane gang's attitude towards their pasts. They need to go forward, yes, but they also desperately want to move on, to make the past not matter anymore. If they were to make any actual good slugterra content again, I would like them to keep making ROTE-like stories; not even necessarily giving us complete backstories (we didn't even get that with Blakk), but having our characters contend with past events. his dad, of course, but also: Twist. dana. tom por. the goon. eli's mom. any and all lore about pronto, kord, and trixie. Any of these things returning would fit well in any plot they come up with, and continue making slugterra's fight with good and evil more and more personal to the characters. that's what slugterra exceeds at - having a plot's lore tie juuuuuuust slightly to broader slugterra history/culture and making these characters learn and face it together. If you want to make a better future, the past must be resolved.

and I think eli finally realized that at the end of ROTE, even if he spends the rest of the running show letting other missions distract him from that painful reality.

also we can be saved ch 2 is in production and i have monday off, and legend says that if you comment on my other stories my depression will lesson and i can actually produce content again thanks yall i love this fandom :)

I can't keep having the same conversations about love languages, mbti, iq, bmi, "brain fully formed at 25" and shit over and over again...

. . ."He is a bad boy with a tainted heart"

WHAT IS THIS POSTSEASON

i need a documentary STAT

YEAH VIENTOS!!!

edit: i need therapy, see you all on Tuesday