Sorry I Say Weird Shit Sometimes I’m Just So Excited To Be Alive

grabs your hand. you've had enough plot and exposition and character development lately im taking you to the beach episode

what is your least favorite Canon relationship in hive? (Doesn't have to be romantic)

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

And as for your question, is it fair to say Overlord and everyone? No? Overlord and Xiu Mei then.

(Including a Read More so I can ramble)

The thing about this relationship isn’t that it’s bad— on the contrary, it’s fascinating! But Mark Walden gave us crumbs when there was a whole cake, right there.

Overlord is a delight to me, but as far as villains go, he falls a bit flat. He serves his purpose as Big Evil AI competently, but that’s it. Little motivation beyond a hatred of humanity. While that links into HIVE’s themes of consciousness and where the bounds of artificial vs authentic each begin, it’s still just… basic, for lack of a better term. And there was so much more room for development in the realm of family, especially with the character of Xiu Mei.

Xiu Mei is many things in this series, but her role is primarily that of a mother. Wing’s mother, yes, but she’s also the “mother” of the series’ first true monster, and that fact unfortunately doesn’t appear much because she dies pre-series and Wing never ruminates on his mother’s role in Overlord’s creation. But HIVE does a lot with the concept of childhoods and what happens when they are disrupted or denied.

Overlord and his progeny (with the exception of Otto) are all denied childhoods, and as a result are hedonists with a need for immediate satisfaction and a constant impatience with their circumstances. Overlord’s birth is described as “waking up from a nightmare,” and he’s immediately asked to state his function. Theres no patience there, and no room for properly orienting oneself. Just Xiu Mei’s focus and optimistic haste with the result of her project. But (in my eyes) to that AI, it’s demanding and borderline rude, and we know that AIs can recognize such disrespect through HIVEmind and his treatment. And of course it doesn’t go well for the scientists at all.

But then, there’s Wing. And what’s special about Wing is that Xiu Mei does not make this mistake again. She fights to her last breath to give him a childhood- she hides him from the League as long as she can and does her best to preserve his innocence. And this shows in Wing’s maturity and relatively well-adjusted behavior later on. It’s a big contrast to her first “son.” She and Nero both have the feelings of “once burned, twice shy” characters who are brutally aware of their mistakes, and I wish that had been focused on more. Especially since she seems empathetic and I do think she would wonder how the activation went so wrong- was it something she said? Did? And so on.

I don’t know, I think something should have been done with Overlord’s feelings on his mortal “parents,” especially considering the three main figures involved are strongly linked to themes of parenthood in HIVE. You know how Otto asks why Overlord didn’t keep him locked up somewhere, and why he left him to develop naturally? Maybe it’s because Overlord did not develop at all and he knows innately it’s unnatural and risky. We needed more time with Overlord’s hatred for people being targeted at specific people, potentially his mother who is a competent parent to all but her “firstborn.” We know Overlord was aware of Wing’s upbringing, so there’s certainly room to develop it more.

I’m sure there’s a better way to phrase this all, but in summary:

Tl;dr : Overlord should have had a relationship with his “mother” to compliment HIVEs themes of childhood and its significance, but also because she and Overlord both suffer from a lack of screen time or POV moments that leaves them feeling a bit one note- the Dead Mom and the Bad AI.

ok real talk who was doing it like shelby trinity. thirteen years old at villain school day one she invents the most over the top valley girl persona ever and is fully prepared to stick to the bit for the next six years. actively watching one of her best friends break his ribs and fight for his life and asked him to pick her up a vegetarian meal for the escape flight. one of her best friends has legitimate supernatural computer powers and a photographic memory and yet she keeps pace with him to the point where they’re basically neck and neck in class rankings. shot a guy in the knees because he double dog dared her to. world was ending boyfriend had been kidnapped and she was looking in the dictionary for the word ‘pregnable’ because of a one-off comment. legitimately spends more time stirring the pot between her roommate’s love life than she does on her own. mommy and daddy issues out the wazoo and we never hear about it because she’d rather be spying on the senior boys water polo practice and she does all of this with a cunty blonde ponytail and lockpicks in her shoes. actual girlboss i love herrrrr

I have been on a massive G.I. Joe kick this weekend, so here's a "redesign" of everyone's favorite wannabe overlord. His concept is already pretty much perfect, I just wanted to combine some of my favorite aspects from different designs into one; I'm thinking about having my own version of the G.I. Joe world since my favorite versions of the characters are all over the place. Anyways, love this guy and his stupid squeaky voice. I included the sword from Resolute + some glass needles full of algesic venom- the perfect weapon for him. Just jab someone and leave them to scream while you make a tactical retreat.

Vibey song for Franz

Hi Mitch! For Franz:

(Perhaps a slight controversial pick here, but I knew it needed to be something fun and high-spirited; after he gets his feet under him in Dreadnought, Franz is consistently the cheerleader and motivator for the team, and he needed a song to match. I've including a song close to my heart- this is the one I've listened to for years as a pick-me-up. One of my dad's favorites too.)

i just learned that a bunch of insane robber fly enthusiasts went and gave common names over a thousand species of north american robber flies.

some favorites: River Ruffian, Mexican Fancyfoot, Painted Pixie, Pretty Bandit, Metallic Micropanther, Texas Goggle Eye, Hairy Twigsitter, Siberian Sandpirate, Arizona Red Eye, Blackstabber, Dwarf Rusty Robber, Giant Marauder, Northern Tyrant, Little Lion Fly, Boreal Assassin, Texas Micropirate, Fiery Raider, California Rainbow Robber, Hell-hound Sandpirate

Eurasian eagle-owls (Bubo bubo) by Wilhelm Kuhnert (1865-1926).

guys who got abandoned

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