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heloflor · 7 months

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Ok so for about a good two-three months now I had a post in my drafts about how I realized I ship Powser, and long story short I started comparing Bowser to what I think to be how most villains in media interact with their damsel in distress if they express “love” for them. Issue is, I don’t have nearly enough knowledge/examples on this topic to know how truthful this comparison is, but said comparison is also the main thing tying this post together. So when thinking of ways to remove this element while still having all the same info in this post, I kind of came up short. Plus, I like the way the post is structured as is.

In other words, here’s the post as I originally wrote it, but be aware that the comparison is probably very flawed. Maybe there’s some truth to it, probably not. In any case, just focus on the Powser side of it, the villain comparison is just there for the structure. Enjoy! (long post ahead, a bit over 3k words)

So I recently realized that I really like Powser which I did NOT expect given I’m usually much more of a “friends to lovers” type of person, and trying to understand why I like it led me to think about how villains tend to be presented in their relationship with the “damsel in distress”, and it’s actually very interesting when you compare it to Bowser.

TL;DR: Unlike most villains who showcase sexual attraction (I think?), Bowser is shown to be romantically attracted to Peach. And while his actions are still very much shitty and should be seen as such, man is he adorable sometimes ! Plus, the way his feelings are shown to be genuine makes him look better than most villains, whose “love” for their victim is portrayed as """creepy lust""" by their medias.

(Obviously there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with sexual attraction. I’m talking in the context of medias that sometimes tend to vilify it, especially when it comes to the antagonists, hence the language used in this post.)

So the first thing that came in mind while thinking of other villains was Dis//ney’s Alad//din (the 90s/animated one) and how Jaf/ar treats Jasm/ine at the end of the movie, more specifically when he wishes for her to fall in love with him and she ends up pretending to be as a distraction.

Thing is, Jasm/ine doesn’t act like she’s in love with Jaf/ar, she acts like she’s thirsting for him, and the way Jaf/ar reacts shows that this is pretty much what he had in mind when saying he wants her to love him. This isn’t love, it’s lust.

Now, I can’t say I’m someone who watches a lot of movies, especially not live-actions ones, so take what I’m about to say with a huge grain of salt. Basically, I kinda feel like what we see in Alad/din is the norm when it comes to villain/victim relationships? Like you have those antagonists who want the damsel in distress to be horny for them, who don’t see those women as people and don’t give a shit about them, only keeping them to get what they want out of them and having no issue discarding them afterwards if they get bored with those poor girls.

Btw that’s not to say that every single villain who kidnaps someone wants to sleep with them. But when it comes to villains who claim to love their victim, there does seem to be at least some sexual tension here, or at least some uncomfortable touches.

And then there’s Bowser. To give a few examples of what he does:

- In that one 1986 anime movie thing, he gets very soft around Peach, gushing about how he’s in love with her and wants to marry her, trying to cheer her up when she’s sad, and let’s not forget that “it’s more of a bracelet, shows that my love is bigger” line with the ring.

- In the mainline “platformers” games, you have “Mario Sunshine” in which Bowser wants his son to have a mother, and “Mario Odyssey” in which he tries to marry Peach, going around the world gathering all the absolute best things for the wedding. There’s also the New Bros U intro with Bowser gently moving Peach’s chair, making sure she doesn’t get hurt by his attack, showing he doesn’t want to hurt her.

- Not sure exactly if this counts as this could be a form of objectification, but you know that cliché of villains getting that all-powerful thing they wanted and immediately betraying/discarding all the people they worked with and/or claimed to love? Well, in the Galaxy games, Bowser gets the power to create a whole new universe, and yet still takes the time to capture Peach, claiming in the first game that he wants her to rule along with him. Again, this could be a form of objectification, especially when looking at his dialogue in the intro of the second game, but it’s still interesting how Bowser doesn’t really fall on that trope, still having his army and Junior on top of Peach (btw the intro of Galaxy 2 is very funny on that front because Bowser literally has enormous powers and yet still makes a detour for Peach, thus causing Mario to be on his tail. Like, let her go dude, she’s not that into you. You got all the powers of the universe, who cares about that one specific woman when you could have literally anybody else?).

- In the first Paper Mario game, Bowser tells Peach that he would fulfill her wishes if she wants (as long as he likes them) and gushes in his diary about how he hopes Peach likes him. And in Thousand Years Doors, he keeps trying to look for her upon hearing she got kidnapped.

- In Super Paper Mario, he gets overjoyed about the wedding but still immediately shows worry for Peach when Nastasia uses her mind control on her, and in general Bowser spends the game clearly loving being able to call Peach his wife, and joins the team again in 7-2 out of concern for her safety. Same with 8-1 where for all he knows he’s about to die and yet his main concern is her safety, to the point where he's willing to ask Mario to protect her for him. His priority is not being with Peach, instead it's Peach being safe.

- In Color Splash, the first thing he does when first getting back to himself during the fight is ask if Mario brought Peach with him.

- In Origami King, he doesn’t want her to see him as a wet floor sign and later asks Olly if Peach is safe and comfortable, which as I’ve seen pointed out implies that him capturing Peach is mostly a forced vacation/sleepover until Mario arrives and she’s put on the spot for show.

(- In general Paper Bowser is a huge hopeless romantic, at least from what I’ve seen of him.)

- In Superstar Saga he helps Mario and Luigi reach the Bean Kingdom for Peach’s sake. Then in Bowser’s Inside Story his most beloved and protected memories are his memories of Peach + he makes saving her his priority towards the end. And in Dream Team, he hears a rumor that Peach might have gotten kidnaped and immediately flies all the way to Pi’illo Island to find her.

- You cannot convince me that his car in Mario 3D World wasn’t an attempt to impress Peach, given this is one of the only two games (three with Wonder) where you play as her and face against him. /hj

- In that one old comic people kept bringing up after the movie came out, Bowser spends a lot of time gushing about marrying Peach. Also despite Peach being very temperamental in this comic, I don’t think Bowser once tries to hurt her? Obviously you have the Magikoopa brainwashing her at the end which is fucked up but outside of that does Bowser ever get angry or menacing when it comes to her?

- In general, outside of the games where Peach is playable and the intro of Inside Story (which comes off as OOC for Bowser tbh, I get him being pissed off but him trying to burn Peach is just really off), do we ever get to see Bowser raise a hand on her and/or try to physically hurt her? Same for his anger, how often do we get to see him raise his voice on her? And no the sports and party games don’t count since everyone is doing the same thing to everyone else in those, and in the party games it'd be unfair if playing that one character led to Bowser going easy on the player.

Now I might be missing some more moments, especially since I’m far from the most knowledgeable on the sport/party games and some RPGs (slowly making my way through them), but there’s one thing that is very obvious: while most villains express sexual attraction for the damsel in distress, Bowser expresses romantic attraction.

Bowser genuinely cares for Peach. She’s one of his most precious memories. In Super Paper, he snaps out of the joy of getting married when Peach is getting brainwashed, showing how much he values her safety. He absolutely adores her and isn’t afraid to express it, especially Paper Bowser.

Those two instances (Inside story and Super Paper) especially really seem to lean into how much Bowser loves Peach. In Inside Story, the fact that she’s his most well-preserved memory shows just how much he values the little time he spends with her and how important she is to him, not as some pretty face but as a person he genuinely wants to create more memories with. And in Super Paper, Bleck is giving him the one thing he’s always wanted, and yet he still shows some reticence when Nastasia uses her mind control, making it look like Peach being safe and sound is more important to him than them being a couple. Idk, those two moments just really get to me when you think about it this way.

(Btw in Super Paper I adore that Peach hesitates to leave him in 8-1 because, while we know Peach is incredibly kind so of course she’d be worried for a teammate, for once it feels like Bowser actually earned it. He spends the whole game being caring towards Peach, and wouldn’t you know, being nice and respectful to someone actually makes them care for you! I swear the Powser potential from this game is unmatched!)

When most villains say “I want this woman to love me”, they usually mean “I want this woman to obey and submit to my every want”. When Bowser says “I want Peach to love me”, he means “I want to be able to wake up everyday by her side, make her smile and laugh and be happy, see her be a mother to my kid(s), learn more about her and spend as much time with her as I can”. Bowser isn’t trying to marry Peach because he wants to “own” her, he wants to marry her because he quite literally wants to spend the rest of his life by her side.

Now that’s not to say that Bowser doesn’t feel any form of sexual attraction. But since Mario is such a kids-friendly franchise, the focus is much more on his romantic feelings. Also, I'll admit, whether Bowser is in love with Peach or with the idea of Peach is up for debate.

I think that’s the main reason why so many people are quick to call Bowser sweet/adorable when seeing the way he talks about Peach. Because the thing is, Bowser is still being a complete asshole here. He’s constantly kidnapping her, putting her in a cage on several occasions, forced her to marry him like 6 different times, very often disregards her body autonomy by grabbing her (+ the kidnappings), terrorizes and sometimes even tortures/kills her people, and his phone pic in the parental controls video + the picture frames in Nintendo World make him look like a creep. Despite his feelings for her, there’s definitely a level of objectification here that should not be ignored.

Hell, I didn’t mention the 2023 movie on the list because I’d argue he was more obsessed rather than in love. Plus the scene where he proposes to her low-key feels like the very first time they meet, making his previous actions creepier (or at the very least they barely know each other, heck Peach didn’t even know Bowser likes her!). And he’s quick to use blackmail and violence against her, especially in the end. The wedding cake toppers also show he cares more about himself than Peach and sees her as an object rather than a person.

(I actually take back what I said in my movie reaction post about Bowser being like the one from Super Paper. He might be goofy when showing his softer side, which was what I was focused on when comparing the two, but he’s also clearly not as genuine and sweet as Paper Bowser. The way he mistreats his army and especially Kamek in the movie is also different from most games, most notably the RPGs since that’s when we see him interact with his people and he’s a relatively good king to them.)

Compare 2023 Movie Bowser to the 1986 movie in which he tries to get Peach involved in the wedding preparations, tries to cheer her up, never gets angry at her despite how much she’s resisting him and never once raises his hand on her. Even when she outsmarts him by making him shapeshift, he’s amused by her attempt. Literally the worse he does in this movie is grab her against her will on many occasions (and obviously the kidnaping and forced marriage, that goes without saying).

Going back on topic, despite Bowser being very much horrible in the way he approaches Peach, since every other villain out there is lusting after the woman they capture, making them appear creepy/predatory, Bowser comes off as an angel in comparison. He’s one of those rare cases of a villain who is truly sincere about his feelings for the woman he captures, and since we see other occasions of him being a sweetheart (with Junior) and a dumbass (the RPG series), he becomes an incredibly endearing character. So his feelings for Peach come off as adorable despite the bad elements because we’re aware he has a soft side so we know he’s truly sincere. Him being sometimes more of an antihero in the RPGs + his inclusion in sports games and the like probably also help seeing him in that good light.

(Also yes I’m very much aware that there’s a huge issue when it comes to how fandoms perceive female characters, and I will absolutely believe you if you tell me this is one of the reasons why you have people who talk shit about Peach so much all while defending Bowser’s actions, especially since his feelings for Peach are so rooted into his character. Oh and obviously you have the people horny for Bowser who love his softer/romantic side and value the moments where he displays this part of himself, that goes without saying.)

I’m especially surprised by the 1986 movie showing such a characterization of him, considering it came out 1-2 years after the very first Super Mario game (aka Bowser’s first appearance, at least I think?). Like imagine making a movie about those characters and going “hey you know the giant turtle monster we fight in this game? What if he was a huge lovable dork who just wanted some love in his life?”. Tbh I adore that choice.

Overall, it’s just interesting to see how Bowser differs from other villains on that front. It’s very interesting to see a villain who does pretty terrible things to a girl all the while being genuine in his feelings for her, idk it’s a very cool contrast. I also like how “true love” tends to be a motivation for the heroes, seen as something good, so it’s fun to see stories where villains have that very same motivation without it being “““twisted””” with lust. And yes I know that last point applies to many more antagonists than just Bowser, and not just for feelings like love.

And a bit off-topic but I also really like how you can easily explain Bowser’s behavior here (not justifying it tho!!!). In the Yoshi Island games, we see he was raised as a spoiled brat who was always given what he wanted, made worse by him being a monarch. We even still see some of that behavior in his adult self, for example when he gets angry and starts stomping his foot like a kid throwing a tantrum.

As a result of his upbringing, Bowser likely just doesn’t know how to take a no. He’s used to always get what he wants, and take it by force if necessary. So when Peach refuses him, he does just that, incapable of understanding why she doesn’t want him.

The 86 movie is actually an excellent example of this. In two scenes (the one with Peach outsmarting him and the ring dialogue) we see Bowser getting worked up when Peach is upset, showing he genuinely wants her to be happy. But at the same time he’s incapable of realizing that he’s the reason why she’s so upset and the one thing he should do is let her go. The ring scene especially shows it very well. When Peach throws the ring and starts crying because she doesn’t want to get married, Bowser thinks she’s upset due to the ring being too big and immediately tries to soothe her by promising to get a better ring. Again, it’s kinda crazy how this movie was made when Bowser only existed for a single year and yet they already made him genuinely in love with Peach.

I’d also add that Bowser seems to have a pretty high opinion of himself, thinking he’s awesome and shit (or maybe he’s overcompensating, that seems like a possibility). As a result, it’s possible that his mentality on the situation is “Well I’m in love with her so surely she must love me! How could she not?”, making it even harder for him to comprehend why she doesn’t love him.

Again, it doesn’t justify his actions in the slightest but it’s still interesting how you can somewhat understand why he’s like this.

And as to why I ship Powser, honestly I still have no idea ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think it has to do with the storytelling potential of a unrequited love/it’s complicated/they have history situation in regards to their roles as monarchs, especially in the case of Peach whose character is brimming with untapped potential. I actually like to describe their relationship as “I hate the effect you have on my life but I couldn’t imagine a life without you in it” or “Our kingdoms are enemies for a good reason but if anything happened to you I’d rush in to save you without hesitation”. It's just that idea of them being ex-lovers who had a bad falling out and how Peach still cares about him to an extent and how their lives constantly intertwine with villains trying to take over their kingdoms + Bowser's kidnappings.

And since we’re talking Powser and since wondering whether they know each other or not in the movie got me to question how we can tell they know each other in the games: the best way I could describe their relationship in the games is familiar/”comfortable”, like you have the way Peach tries to convince Bowser to join the group in Super Paper, the way she talks about him in general in the Mario and Luigi games, or stuff like most cutscenes in Odyssey where she never seems afraid of Bowser.

I’ve also seen that Switch Tennis game with the evil racket and how Peach is the one who tries to get through to Bowser when he steals it, straight up saying “listen to me” which makes it seem like she knows she’s the one person who could get him to stop, or you have the first Rabbids game where she comments on how “Junior is sometimes even worse than his father”, plus the way she looks like a mother about to reprimand her child in the cutscene where Jr learns Bowser is coming home (which I find hilarious; lady that’s not your kid, I thought we’d been through this already in Sunshine!). Oh and CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE WAY SHE’S LOOKING AT HIM IN (spoilers in link) THAT CUTSCENE FROM THE NEW RABBIDS 2 DLC!!!

I don’t know how to fully explain but, looking at these kinds of interactions, you can tell that the two of them know each other, and to an extent Peach knows that Bowser won’t hurt her, hence why she’s not afraid to oppose him. It’s pretty funny actually how in the games Peach tends to be exasperated by Bowser more than anything else. Like he’s not a menace, just a weekly annoyance. And again, when you compare it to the movie where there’s only hostility and awkwardness between them, you do get the impression that they’re two complete strangers meeting for the first time. The fact Movie Peach had no idea about his feelings for her doesn’t help either. Then again, about the hostility, Peach in the games is much sweeter so maybe she shows a nicer side to Bowser because that’s just who she is.

#Powser #Bowser X Peach #Princess Peach #Bowser #Super Mario #Flor talks #long post #looking at the ending of that post you can tell this was written shortly after the Rabbids DLC 2 came out #But yeah; as said in the intro I'm really not sure if the comparison to other villains #and what it entails in how Bowser is seen by the general public is actually a good take; I don't think it is #but also I like how this post is overall written #all in all; that post is just an excuse to gush about Powser; so please don't take the 'analysis' part of it too seriously #btw yes I saw the Wonder animation and love it; pretty funny how powser will never be canon yet Nintendo keeps giving us content #(not that I'm complaining; quite the opposite)#also it feeds my hc that Bowser would LOVE a chubby Peach bc big=healthy in Koopa's eyes since turtles have thick limbs #also also it's pretty funny how I'm worried that Peach being less kidnapped=Bowser's crush slowly disappearing #but then Nintendo keeps proving me wrong by showing that; kidnapped or not; his crush isn't going anywhere; and I'm very happy about it #in other news I'm going to star putting the number of words in my longer posts so people know what they're getting into #also might put the read more earlier to make sure the whole post isn't opened when trying to see the rest of the intro

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inamindfarfaraway · 2 years

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I can’t really get into Luz/Hunter roleswap AUs because I just think Luz is the perfect main character and Belos the perfect villain thematically and everything and don’t like Hunter and Camilla taking their places, as cool as Golden Guard Luz is. But what about a King/Collector roleswap AU, since they’re equally foils? Introducing… the Collector Clawthorne AU!

King:

Centuries ago, searching for the power and knowledge he needs to destroy witchkind and a hideout after committing too many crimes on the mainland, Phillip discovers an island conveniently not on any maps and in its dilapidated castle, an egg. He uses a spell to hasten the egg’s hatching, in case it’s an animal he can eat. It turns out to be a baby Titan. The only son of the dead ‘god’ that formed the Boiling Isles. The most powerful being known to exist in this dimension, revered by the witches. Phillip sees potential in this.

He names the baby King, an assertion of both his great power and that it is still inherently inferior to Emperor Belos’s own (and mirroring how Jesus was mockingly called the ‘King of the Jews’ by his killer). King is raised to be the Jesus analogue in Belos’s twisted repurposing of Puritanical ideology to control the people. Witches can’t deny Belos’s righteousness when he’s the protector and in a sense regent for the Titan’s son, the spirit of the father supposedly entrusting him to guide society to become ‘pure’ and worthy of King’s inheritance. But just as the Roman Empire put Jesus to death and hated and persecuted the Jews, Belos inwardly has no affection or respect for King or his father and despises all the magic Titans preside over. Instead he’s leading the boy up a mountain of lies to be his sacrificial lamb. Eventually learning a substitute for the Collector’s draining spell, he plans to murder and fully drain King on the Day of Unity to provide it with the required power.

King is extremely sheltered, not remembering ever leaving the castle grounds, and though everyone knows what he looks like very few people see him in person except on special events. Belos can’t have the sinful riffraff contaminating his precious messiah. This surrounds him with mystery and speculation, even more than Belos and the Golden Guard. It adds to the narrative of his divinity that nobody outside Belos’s inner circle knows his true nature or behaviour. King is spoiled in every way except real love. And how can you miss something you’re never known, right? To prevent him feeling any troublesome empathy for or attachment to witches and demons, he’s constantly treated like he exists on a higher level than them. It totally isn’t crushingly lonely at all, definitely. He cultivates a cold, stern, temperamental, domineering, arrogant facade to feel a degree in control over his life, hide his crippling self-doubt and need for validation and appear as the strong, commanding presence he believes a Titan should be and he has to be to have worth. His emotional growth has been severely stunted and he's very fragile and volatile. The only people he respects are his guardian Belos, who he’s forever indebted and unhesitatingly submissive to, and his father whose lingering soul Belos claims to be able to communicate with. He says that the Titan has big plans for King. That he cares about him, and wants him to be the best he can be and make the world a better place. So if his dad wants, no, needs him to suffer a little to that end - i.e. regularly giving blood and other body parts to the Emperor’s Coven to charge tools and weapons and spells; or going through intense (brutal) training to master and test the limits of his powers; or generally being Belos's personal lab rat to increase his magical knowledge and ability - how can King refuse? How can an act be wrong if it’ll make his dad proud of him? Love him? And it's all for the greater good, of course.

He’s a brother figure to the first few Golden Guards. They aren’t meant to be peers, King has none, but they have no other fellow children for company besides each other, so it just keeps happening that they form a relationship varying from gradual trust and solidarity between victims of abuse to wholehearted sibling love and friendship. The Grimwalkers each rebel at least partly out of wanting King to be safe. Belos gets tired of this. He develops a new dimension to his abusive parenting: inventing a golden child vs scapegoat dynamic for King and the current Grimwalker. The Grimwalker envies and resents King and always being inferior to him fans the flames of his insecurities and desperation to prove himself; King is now unable to befriend him and even more emotionally isolated, and is subtly encouraged to unleash his resultant anger, frustration and bitterness at the Grimwalker, ensuring the latter won’t warm up to him; in a self-perpetuating cycle that keeps them both vulnerable and useful. It absolutely doesn’t traumatize King whatsoever when Belos kills the Grimwalkers over and over. They bring it on themselves. And he knows better than to care about lesser beings anyway - the Grimwalkers don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. They don’t matter to his dad. They aren’t important like him! Belos would never do anything like that to him… right? At least, not as long as he plays his part. Right?

He’s grown to Titan mid-adolescence by the present day and is roughly the size of Tarak. His horn was also broken by Jean-Luc when Belos stole him in this continuity, but King was told that wild witches who kidnapped and tried to kill him to harness his power for destruction were responsible. This helps explain why Belos is so ‘protective’ of him and gives him a grudge against wild witches. He wears gold caps on both his horns to conceal the imperfection, part of an elegant, regal outfit consisting of comfortable white robes with gold and purple accents. The clothes likewise hide scars from all the experiments and surgeries that have been done on him. His circlet of woven gold wires seems strangely spiky for the Emperor’s Coven’s aesthetic… until you realize that it’s a crown of thorns.

The Collector:

Eight years ago, Eda stumbles upon a tablet of some weird crystal with a crescent moon etched on it. Looks expensive. She could probably sell it. Once she returns home, it starts to glow. Okay, it’s magical. She could definitely sell it -

Oh. She brought home a child. Shit.

Correction: she brought home an ancient, immortal, godlike child called the Collector who has been sealed away and must communicate through the tablet. She agrees to free them because she doesn’t know why they’re in solitary confinement, but it’s clear he’s a kid however long he’s been alive, and she doesn’t approve of child imprisonment on principle. His voice, laughter and shadow form soon triggers the Owl Beast’s trauma from their imprisonment by an Archivist, and they take control of Eda’s body and attack. They attempt to destroy the tablet and manage to not break but fracture it before Eda can restrain them, which inhibits the Collector’s pinky promise release ritual when Eda performs it. Like when a crack on your touchscreen makes your interaction with the display glitch. This means that only a tiny fraction of magic can pass through, giving the Collector a physical form, but his actual magical power is inaccessible. The Owl Beast is furious to have a Collector here. The Collector is having a tantrum that they "can’t do anything!". Hooty is excited to have a new inhabitant. Eda… is overwhelmed. She calms the Collector down and vows to find a way to free their magic someday.

In return she gets the story of the Archivists, the Titans and how the Collector was unfairly punished for his people's crimes. Learning that her supposed curse is in fact a sentient animal trapped unwillingly and harrowingly moves Eda to sympathize with and respect the Owl Beast. She works on negotiating with it and accesses her harpy form years earlier. It’s awesome.

Meanwhile, although she doesn’t acknowledge it aloud and the Collector doesn’t even notice because he has no concept of parents, she slips unintentionally into being their mother. She just can’t bear to abandon this kid, who as ancient as he may be, is very naive and trusts her and has been alone for so long and can't stand it. And she relates to being pigeonholed as a troublemaker and considered irredeemable by adults. So they get a room. The room accumulates a large collection of toys, books and furnishings. The tablet is kept safely cushioned in a secret chest to prevent its breaking, theft or mishandling. She accurately deduces the Collector has often been deceived and manipulated and tries not to talk down to him or lie to him, but he doesn’t understand much beyond game metaphors initially. For example, she describes the Coven System as a really strict, boring game the mean bully Emperor Belos forces everyone on the Boiling Isle to play, because he designed the rules so he always wins; Eda thought everyone should get the chance to win and broke the rules, meaning now she and the Emperor’s Coven are playing a special game of hide and seek where if they catch her, she’ll be taken away forever. Yes, even though she promised to help the Collector. The Emporer’s Coven do not honour pinky promises. Yes, they’re that bad. She nicknames the Collector Collie (narratively representing his identity as an Ordinary Kid With a Family). He is ecstatic to have companionship, especially the way Eda and Hooty don’t demand any knowledge or services of them like every previous ‘friend’ they’ve had, rather love him in and of himself. Finding unconditional love feels much nicer than lonely omnipotence, they slowly settle into contentment with relatively mundane life. It’s an infinite upgrade to prison besides. Eda disciplines them with gradual success. She introduces them to concepts like empathy; that they can be wrong and that’s okay; that what they find fun isn’t necessarily fun or good for everybody else all of the time; that people can sometimes do hurtful or unpleasant things and not be evil, etc.. Collie has equals now and feel the consequences of their actions. Not to say that he matures beyond pre-Season One King until Luz arrives, but he’s way ahead of the canon Collector.

Hooty is his best friend. They get along excellently, sharing an eccentric, kinda disturbing sense of fun and humour and remaining in the Owl House when Eda goes out, with Hooty a surprisingly competent babysitter.

Collie adores and dotes on Owlbert. Eda repeatedly takes measures to childproof her staff and must teach them to be gentle with Palismen.

Then Luz arrives in the Demon Realm. And the entire history of the Boiling Isles is set to change forever.

#collector clawthorne au #me: (points at collector) you get found family wholesomeness and moral growth!#king: what do i get?#me: :)#me: P A I N #no but in this au instead of king growing up slowly and healthily and the collector never maturing at all bc they’re a god #we have the collector growing up slowly and healthily and king never getting to be a kid at all bc of how belos abused that he’s a titan!#also phillip and eda both didn’t intend to take in a kid and wanted the object they found the kids in for self-benefit #but upon meeting the child inside #eda went ‘OH MY TITAN A KID i’m a PARENT now’#and phillip went ‘ah… a TOOL’#cackling at the sheer morbidness of phillip hatching king to cook and eat him #luz: were you ever held as a child?#king: (referring to restraints on an operating table) yes #alternatively #king: yes i was kidnapped once #the owl house #toh #the owl house au #toh au #toh roleswap au #roleswap au

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