Deconstructing Masculinity With Boomstick

[Note: This article uses Death Battle! screenshots that were used in previous blog posts of mine, and all rights for them belong to Death Battle! and Rooster Teeth.]

It's World Mental Health Day and I thought about something I could write for it. Keeping in mind that the "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid" death battle was released on this exact day a year ago and that I am a massive fan of Death Battle itself, I decided to revisit it for inspiration, mainly the plot involving Boomstick getting over his father issues.

I already discussed that particular plotline in a previous blog post of mine, so I don't really need to explore it in full detail again. But there was another thing that stood out about Boomstick as a whole. Death Battle fans all know him as an outright gun nut with a fiery temper, filthy mouth (both with regards to swearwords and sex jokes) and a lust for bloodshed and death. This is mainly because he's a parody of the stereotypical redneck of the Deep South (though fortunately without the racism and bigotry that they are infamously associated with). But there's also another side to him, one that has so many mental health issues and vulnerable moments, as well as someone who pined for a father who never gave a rat's arse about him in the first place. Combining this side with the one he initially presents, it makes him an incredibly complex and messy character, and a highly interesting one at that too.

Which made me think to myself - he's not just a deconstructive parody of rednecks. He's also a deconstructive parody of the concept of toxic masculinity and what it means to be a "man".

And that's why I'm writing this article today. Sure, I'm not a man myself, but being someone who has also struggled through mental illness, I feel that this is something that also relates to mental health. Keep in mind that this is not going to be a proper academic essay on the matter, though I did study critical analysis at university. This is mainly going to be a summary of two things - toxic masculinity as a general thing with regard to mental health, and how Boomstick as a character comes across as a deconstruction of the concepts associated with toxic masculinity, both throughout the series as a whole and in the "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" episode.

So What's The Deal With Masculinity?

Masculinity is a complex subject matter. Essentially, it's the idea of what defines a "true" man. We can all have our ideas on what that means, but there is ultimately one defined view that most people think of when the idea of a "manly man" comes up.

Western society in particular has cultivated a view on masculinity, dating back to the time of the Greeks. The perfect heroes in their myths and legends are portrayed as dashing, well-built, confident fighters with a bit of a temper who slay the bad guys and get the ladies. Think Hercules, considered the strongest man ever, or Perseus, the guy who slew Medusa, for instance. Of course, looking back at these stories now, they may have been unwittingly deconstructing these ideals, with Achilles' hot temper in The Iliad leading to further problems in the Trojan War, but at face value, this doesn't appear to be the case.

And it's this mentality that has led to the concept of toxic masculinity. Men are expected to not cry or ask for help, as it implies that they are "weak". In fact, the only emotion they really seem to be allowed to have is anger, and they are encouraged to fight in order to preserve this masculinity. They have to have huge muscular bodies and chiselled bodies and not look like "sissy" pretty boys with slender bodies or nerdy "wimps" with spindly bodies. They are seen as "superior" to women and have been allowed to physically, verbally and sexually abuse them in the past in order to assert their dominance (despite changing laws, it sadly still happens today).

This even extends to children's media of all things. Dennis the Menace (the UK one, not the US one) was often depicted picking on "softie" Walter and yet we were supposed to root for Dennis (this is before Walter was revamped into being more of a killjoy who wanted to seem "sophisticated"). Horrid Henry often went out of his way to ruin his more effeminate brother Perfect Peter's life, and yet you were supposed to root for Henry (even though he's legitimately horrid as his name suggests) and not the "whiny" Peter. The idea is that they are promoting the lifestyle of naughty children and that you didn't have to be a "goody two-shoes", but these works only serve to promote the same message - brash masculinity is good, soft effeminacy is bad.

This is all disgusting, to put it bluntly. Crying and asking for help are completely normal behaviours that should be more accepted. In fact, the common situation in the UK of men being more likely to commit suicide than women, despite women being more likely to even attempt it, is likely linked to the idea that men can't show "weakness" and their mental health issues building up as a result. (more information can be found in this Samaritans document here). And as for the whole "sexual prowess" thing, why do you think there were so many cases of sexual abuse in Hollywood and other places? Heck, a lot of convincing articles have even been made for the idea that toxic masculinity played a role in the infamous Oscars 2022 moment where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in response to a tasteless joke about his wife's alopecia, such as this one written by Ateh Jewel for Glamour and this one written by Shaun Harper for the Los Angeles Times.

Toxic masculinity plays a huge role in mental health problems. When men try to hide their emotions, act “strong” and pretend to be someone else in order to fit in with society, it just ends up breaking them on the inside. They refuse to get help even when it would really suit them, and consequently it leads to worst issues such as lashing out and hurting others or considering suicide. It's dangerous for both them and other people. And yet the media still insists with their depictions of men that this surprisingly harmful mindset is a good thing rather than a bad one.

Fortunately, this is not the case with Boomstick at all. In fact, as my next section will discuss, he pretty exposes the harsh reality of the mindset rather than tries to gloss over it.

How Boomstick Takes A Sledgehammer To This

What is so brilliant about the character of Boomstick, and the main reason he's not only my favourite Death Battle! character of all time, but also one of my favourite characters of all time in general, is just how effectively he deconstructs the concepts of "true" masculinity. Every single aspect associated with what it "means" to be a "man" gets torn apart when applied to him.

It's funny, because the first time he appears, he does appear to be your typical frat boy, albeit, with a violent streak. He drinks beer, he makes perverted comments about women, he has a tattoo and he has muscular arms. There's also not forgetting the fact that he has a moustache, which can be seen as another sign of manliness (depending on the type though - toothbrush moustaches are forever associated with Adolf Hitler and therefore highly condemned nowadays). But overtime, he stops playing the "manly" tropes straight and veers into being a deconstructive parody of a manly man. I don't even know whether this was the intention of the writers or not, but he sure comes across as satirising toxic masculinity to me.

Boomstick in general.

Given the fact that Death Battle is a long-running series and the voice actors tend to improvise, it's hard to tell whether Boomstick's more broken side was planned from the start or just something that gradually made its way into the scripts. Either way, though he takes pride in his manliness, his more broken side will show from time to time. Even when there's no Freudian excuse for his traits, they appear in parodied form, making traits such as a love of violence and sexual habits seem genuinely absurd.

The whole missing father business is just one aspect. There is a prevailing opinion that men need a father figure in their life to help them be more of a man. Boomstick obviously had his father walk out on his family and his stepfathers weren't any better either. This has not helped him at all - not only is a major reason that he became an alcoholic, but he bitterly reminisces on it in several episodes, often to the point of tears. And whenever he tries to make out that he's okay about it, he's clearly not.

The smile says "I'm fine". The tears scream "OH GOD SOMEONE HELP ME".

As a result, there have been moments in which Boomstick has tried to look up to somebody else as a new father figure, particularly one who comes across as "manly". His Top 10 Dads list involves him discussing the ones that he looks up to, and apart from the Greek god Zeus, most of them were pretty good choices. However, his obsession with Sarge during the "Red vs. Blue" episode shows how deluded he is with regard to wanting a new father. He sees him as the epitome of awesomeness for being someone who also likes bloodshed and serves as the leader of his troops, yet RvB fans will know Sarge as a comically deranged nutcase who abuses his subordinates and cannot imagine a life without war, leading to him temporarily betraying his comrades in Season 15. Even worst, it's heavily implied that Sarge IS Boomstick's true dad in this series and could not care less for his son at all.

The excessive drinking is another aspect. Beer is stereotypically seen as a masculine drink, appreciated by frat bros and other men. If a woman is shown drinking beer rather than wine, it's a sign that she's masculine too, even if this isn't necessarily the case in real life. With Boomstick, he takes this to the extremes. His first words were apparently "Beer! Now!", which implies that he first got into it at a RIDICULOUSLY young age, likely because of his daddy issues and his own family being into the stuff in the first place. Let's be real here, that's an extremely inappropriate to get into alcohol at. He has gotten black-out drunk on several occasions and it has led him to carry out ridiculous stunts, such as driving his dune buggy into a lake. The original "Link vs. Cloud" fight implies that his alcoholism may have led to his divorce, or maybe even his MANY divorces. In the "Amy vs. Ramona" preview episodes, he goes on a bender and ends up puking his guts out onto a horrified Wiz, clearly not feeling great at all. Wiz himself shows great disdain for this alcoholism, but seems unable to do anything about it.

There's also the matter of Boomstick's perverted nature. Sure, this was back in the days of the internet when making perverted jokes about women was seen as more harmless, but his sexual comments ultimately come off as ridiculous even back then, with Wiz being confused by the whole matter. One time, he was fine with the idea of dying from a heart attack after seeing Black Orchid's large breasts. Another time, Wiz managed to disgust him by pointing out that Toph Beifong was twelve before he made a joke about "hardening", making him realise how morally messed-up his joke would have been. Then there was the time Wiz won a bet against him because he couldn't make it through Cammy White's rundown without mentioning her arse. Even the subtitles once called him out when he chuckled over the word "climax" when discussing Bayonetta. And yet, despite him bragging about his sexual prowess and (allegedly) large dick size, he legitimately thought his ex-wife's sex toy was a crazy pen in a surprise moment of innocence with regard to sex. Interestingly enough, this trait of his has actually been downplayed in recent years, likely because of a greater backlash against sexual harassment and perverted jokes since the Me Too movement.

Oh, and we can't forget his violent traits either. The fact his name is "Boomstick" pretty much hints at them, and apparently he was trained in martial arts and guns as a child. However, rather than make him out to look badass for loving a good fight, these traits instead show him as incredibly deranged and dangerous to be around. The alcohol in particular serves to heighten them at the worst moments. He has confessed to killing a magician and a clown in self-defence in the past, despite the heavy implications that they weren't planning anything suspicious at all. In the infamous Sol Badguy preview, he shoots Wiz's robot dog due to throwing a fit over the whole business with That Man, with the "Ragna vs. Sol Badguy" episode emphasising how over-the-top this reaction was. In fact, the third Death Race episode reveals that he has a warrant on his head in all fifty states of America due to his obsession with violence, something that he would prefer not to talk about.

Leading on from that is his hot temper. Besides the whole business with the robot dog, Boomstick's anger has led to several other awkward moments. When throwing a hissy fit BECAUSE Wiz mentioned his hot temper in "Flash vs. Quicksilver", he storms off, only to trip over something and hurt his balls, much to Wiz's amusement. His arguments with Jocelyn just emphasise how much of a dreadful boss he is towards her and you ultimately end up siding with her in the arguments rather than him. Hot-blooded men in fiction are normally shown as cool badasses who refuse to be messed with, but here, Boomstick's hot temper makes him come across as childish and even a danger to others. In a way, this is pretty much the reality of having a foul temper or lashing out at the wrong moment. As I mentioned earlier, the Oscars 2022 slap is fine proof of it, as are Sean Penn and Alec Baldwin's real life moments of angry ranting.

If anything, the more "effeminate" and "weak" aspects of Boomstick serve as redeeming points for him. He has confessed to having a therapist, though whether they are actually helpful towards him is a questionable point. The moments in which he cries, especially if it's to do with his father, show how vulnerable he really is, but they also serve to humanise him whenever a tragic incident happens to another character, such as with the death of Bell-mere in One Piece or the depressing outcome of the "Tanjiro vs. Jonathan" death battle. In contrast, Wiz, who very rarely cries and gets startled by some of Boomstick's more violent crying fits, is mainly the resident stoic (and a geek rather than a "manly man" to boot) who tries to appear sane in order to cover up his more deranged side. Oh, and he's a cyborg too, which puts his less emotional behaviour in a particularly interesting light.

Boomstick's relationship with women is also an interesting thing to explore. He has a perverted mindset, trash talks his ex-wives and mistreats Jocelyn the Intern. However, episodes like "Goro vs. Machamp" imply that for all his trash-talking, he's actually a lot more upset about his inability to stay married than he lets on. Meanwhile, whilst he is depicted with a disturbing crush on the sadistic Esdeath in her death battle, he has shown sense when it comes to potential future wives in the "Top 10 Waifus" episode. Not all of his choices are sexualised characters and most of them are outright heroic and kind-hearted women, with even Mystique coming across as sympathetic. There's also the fact they go across the whole spectrum from being more conventionally feminine to pretty masculine, but there's no denying how capable they are, especially if they can fight well. Most misogynists out there wouldn't dream of pursuing a woman who can at least win one arm-wrestling watch.

And then there's his relationship with his mother, who he looks up to greatly. His tattoo is even a heart with her name written on it. Usually, being a "momma's boy" is seen as a sign of a man being a wimp, but this trait once again simply shows that there's more to Boomstick than him being a loud gun nut. Especially since she's the only original character in Death Battle that he hasn't had any conflict with - he bickers with the other hosts often and he loves to beat up on DUMMI, making his connection with his mother stand out all the more for it.

The "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" episode.

So that's how Boomstick's masculinity gets explored in general. The "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" episode explores the whole thing further, especially when Macho Man gets involved. The man himself, when it comes to masculinity, comes across as both the idealistic opposite of Boomstick as well as the guy he probably strives to be.

For those who have absolutely zero wrestling knowledge (to be fair, I'm not that much of a wrestling fan myself and had to do quite a bit of research for this section), Macho Man is the alternative name of Randy Savage (real name Randall Mario Poffo), one of the most famous wrestlers associated with the World Wrestling Federation (WWE). With his charismatic and flamboyant personality, outrageous fashion style and just outright manliness, he was a major favourite with the crowds. He was often associated with Hulk Hogan, another WWE face with a macho all-American image, and in the 80s, was one of the few people who rivaled him in popularity. He won 18 different titles and in general had a 70.2% win rate in his 2,104 matches. He was also well-known for his passionate romance with the equally talented wrestler and manager Miss Elizabeth, and their onstage wedding was a major moment in his career. No wonder he ended up being posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a headliner in 2015.

In real life, there have been plenty of scandals associated with WWE and wrestling in general. The famed Attitude era is looked back on as a time of toxic masculinity and questionable sexist behaviour, such as when then WWE owner Vince McMahon ordered Trish Stratus to strip her clothes off and bark like a dog (something that was just seen as his "bad boss" gimmick at the time), or some of the comments that Jerry Lawler made about the female anatomy or calling Molly Holly old and ugly during her down period after having her hair shaved and being forced to wear a tacky wig. For a while, when it came to female wrestlers, there was more of an emphasis on how good they looked rather than any talent they actually had. There have also been the matter of the same sex scandals that you get in other places such as Hollywood - recently, McMahon got accused of sexual misconduct himself and had to step down from his position as a result.

There's also the matter of the deaths of famous wrestlers linked with drugs, whether due to overdoses or heart attacks linked with past addictions, especially during the Ruthless Aggression era. Most the drugs were performance-enhancing ones such as steroids, designed to beef up the body and help in the ring, though there were others used such as alcohol. Examples of drug-related deaths include Reid Flair, Louie Spicolli and most notably Eddie Guerrero, who had gone clean but ultimately died from heart failure caused by past drug addictions. In a particularly nasty situation, Chris Benoit was found with steroids and other drugs in his system after he first killed his family and then himself. Though a strict drug testing programme has been implemented since then, it still doesn't eradicate the memories of these incidents and the fact that Flair died in 2013 shows that the problem hasn't quite gone away. The Wrestler Deaths website has plenty more examples of wrestlers who died from drug overdoses.

Of course, that's not what we're presented with when we watch wrestling (even if the situation with McMahon and Trish was shown onscreen). We're presented with badass, well-built champions and cool wrestling moves. And it's pretty much what Boomstick gets presented with when him and Macho Man finally meet each other.

If Macho Man represents everything awesome about masculinity, then Boomstick represents everything repulsive about it, only without the misogyny, rape and transphobia that also comes with it. Macho Man is buff, charismatic and a world-famous superstar, and he can also rock a nifty beard. Boomstick also has pretty muscular arms, but appears to have a beer belly, has scruffy facial hair and can barely keep a relationship. Macho Man oozes confidence with his onstage persona, but Boomstick is prone to having emotional breakdowns whenever his own mask of confidence shatters.

Boomstick is more than determined to accept the idea that Macho Man was his true father all along, despite evidence being very clear that this isn't the case. The main reason is likely that he sees him as the type of man he wants to be and looks up to. After all, if you can't be like someone else you admire, you might as well form connections with them in one way or another in order to improve your own reputation. Alternatively, it could be interpreted that he's ashamed of his own sense of masculinity and feels that by accepting him as a father figure, he can project Macho Man onto himself in order to gain at least some confidence.

Does this attitude work? No. Macho Man makes it clear that he's not his father, shattering his hopes. He has another one of his temper tantrums, snapping out at even the combatants, which I doubt did him any favours in Randy's eyes. And then I guess something happened during the screen transition that REALLY did a number on him. By the time Boomstick reaches his mother's house, he's essentially scared and broken, lacking any of the bravado he had beforehand. It's a far cry from the guy who, when he first appeared in the series, was obsessed with using his gun, made sexual comments about the ladies and took delight in nearly all the violent deaths he witnessed. You'd think that they were two completely different characters.

To really seal the deal, it's Boomstick's mother who turns out to be his savior. Once he relates the problem regarding the search for his father to her, she's able to help him realise that things are better than they seem to be. And it really does wonders for Boomstick during this moment. Around her, he can easily show off his more vulnerable side and not be judged for it. He can show affection, cry and accept advice from her, stuff that toxic masculinity discourages but in reality is something we all need to do at some point.

And by accepting his own mental health issues regarding his father and allowing himself to have this vulnerable moment, Boomstick comes out all the better for it. He gains back the boisterous personality he's had for most of the series, but it doesn't come across as a mask for his own issues anymore. Considering this outcome, is it any wonder that releasing this episode on the 10th October, Mental Health Awareness Day (even if the original reason was to celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary), makes so much sense?

Obviously this won't completely fix Boomstick's state of mind. He still has a love of violence, an obsession with beer, a perverted nature and a foul temper, but in this moment, he did manage to get the advice he needed and therefore move on from a major issue that was wreaking havoc his mental health. And it's quite likely that, if he has more moments like these in the future, with him allowing himself to get emotional and having someone to help him through his issues, he'll probably get closer to further recovery...

...Which is exactly what other men with similar issues need to be doing in real life. Just pretending to be tough, hiding emotions and refusing to rely on other people just makes mental health issues related to toxic masculinity worse. Allowing yourself to show emotion, cry and ask for help will stop that from happening and instead help to improve things. It's fortunately something that is starting to happen in our modern society, but it's still a long way before the situation truly improves.

At this point, it's time for masculinity as a concept to be redefined completely. Our society may try and claim that "boys don't cry", but in the words of Malorie Blackman's novel Boys Don't Cry (named sarcastically in this case), "real men do". And the same goes with other aspects of toxic masculinity - they're simply a sign of immaturity, whilst the other things it tries to discourage against are the true signs of maturity and a mentally healthy mindset. After all, it's not important at all to be a man who tries to fit in with society's unhealthy demands, and it's more important to be a man who can be true to himself and rely on others and be a happier person as a whole in response. That's what true strength and masculinity is really about.

How The 150th Death Battle Resonated With My Own Personal Issues

Something about fictional works can be empowering at times. There are works that allow people to have emotional or mental epiphanies about themselves. They end up feeling that a situation depicted in the work relates with their own situations and personal issues, even if it isn't an exact replica, and it can be life-changing. Recent Disney and Pixar films for instance such as Frozen, Inside Out and Encanto, have been brilliant at this. Think of the many people who felt that Elsa's "screw what everyone else thinks of me" song "Let It Go" resonated with their own issues - some members of the LGBTQ+ community even ended up seeing it as their own theme song.

Death Battle shouldn't be a case of this. It is not a work that is supposed to have a family-friendly message like your typical Disney or Pixar movie. It is a family-unfriendly series that primarily focuses on pop-culture characters fighting each other to the death and murdering each other in over-the-top ways. The hosts are amoral people who enjoy violence and analysing anything to do with killing. And with its 150 episode milestone, it primarily consisted of famous wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage fighting against famous drink mascot Kool-Aid Man.

Yet there was another side to the episode too. Throughout the course of Death Battle's first 150 episodes, there has been a subplot involving co-host Boomstick (a character I like so much I took my username from him) and his deadbeat father. I already did an article on it in December that served as a sort of timeline for the events linked with it, but I will do a short summary for the sake of this article too.

Essentially, Boomstick's father left the family when he was still very young, and it has affected him ever since. He angsts about the emotionally abusive way his father treated him when he was still around and where he could possibly be. He switches between wanting revenge on his father and genuinely missing him. Sometimes he even has crying fits about it. Not helping is the fact that he's the resident wisecracker, which results in plenty of awkward moments in which he tries to use that side of himself to cover up his more depressed side.

The smirk says "I'm fine", but the tears scream "HELP ME!!!"

This mask doesn't help much either. And after the fight aspect of the episode was over, he essentially just becomes a depressed and nervous thing of himself that's not in the mood for any jokes at all - when he's not angrily snapping out at the combatants and a guest star, that is.

Eventually, Boomstick arrives at what seems to be his father's place, but turns out to be his mother's. He's downright crushed at first, but Mama Boomstick points out that sometimes you "can't worry much about what you hope for, 'cause then you might miss the way things turn out", with her pointing out that he has two good friends for starters. Boomstick is still depressed about the fact that his father is missing at first, but thanks to his mother's encouragement and realising that she has a point about having the people he needs in his life, he ends up feeling better about the whole situation and thanks his mother for helping him out.

I squeed. I even teared up a bit. Here was a character who'd been suffering intensely from his negative thoughts on a past situation, and finally he was learning to move on and appreciate the things he had in his life. Plus, the moment in which he manages to smile despite his tears beforehand is just adorable.

But there was another reason I found myself getting emotional. You know I mentioned those scenes you watch that hit close to home and sometimes trigger personal memories? That was exactly what happened whilst I watched the ending.

No, I do not have a deadbeat father like Boomstick does. I have a pretty good relationship with my own one, even if he can frustrate me on a few occasions. Otherwise, we like listening to the same music together, laugh at the same jokes and have plenty of good times together. And I can pretty much say the same about the rest of my family.

However, even if my life could be considered to be ordinary, there were plenty of disappointments and traumas I suffered. Most of it was to do with bullying in one or two years of primary school and my first year of secondary school. But there were others as well, most of which resulted in tears. And unfortunately, I tend to have the memory of an elephant when it comes to even one-off incidents.

Keep in mind that these are just "key" moments - the bullying moments for instance lasted for a few weeks. Also, scratch the "two bullies" part in the "snowball" part - there were THREE. 

As you can notice, some of these incidents would not have been a big deal for anyone else, and one of them in particular didn't even have me as the target. But I guess my then-undiagnosed autism and sensitive nature in general caused my mind to bloat these incidents out of proportion.

I didn't brood on those issues too much at the time - except for maybe the PSA incident in Year 6, which caused me to avoid TV channels and radio stations with adverts like the plague for a while. After all, I was the "confident" member of the family, the one who always "bounced back" when bad things happened, in contrast with some of the others who lacked said "confidence". But when starting at university, something changed. I guess I felt that I should have handled certain things differently or ended up with a desire to "get my own back" on the people that tormented me in the past, because I could not stop thinking about those incidents. Sure, this didn't happen all the time, but there were moments in which they just "came back" into my mind at random, usually around winter or when something else in my life was stressing me out.

The thing with negative memories is that they can completely overcloud your better sense of judgement, especially if you're suffering some sort of mental illness such as depression. Being someone who suffers from anxiety and knows of family members who also have mental illness, I'm all too familiar with this happening. There were times in which I could not get the thoughts out of my brain and they would linger for days. Sometimes I'd end up with them whilst doing something that should have allowed me to be in a relaxed environment, such as taking a bath or going to bed.

These were memories that I would honestly prefer to forget, but even trying to think about other things or purge them from my mind didn't have a great effect. In some cases, I'd honestly consider whether going to a hypnotherapist to wipe them away, even though I'm pretty sure that hypnotherapy doesn't work like that. And obviously, trying to pretend that all is okay and that you're not having these unpleasant thoughts at all just accelerates the issue.

And I think the same applies with Boomstick. There were moments in which he'd suffer breakdowns linked with thoughts about his father, most notably in "Zuko vs. Todoroki" in which he both fails to pretend that everything is fine during the intro and overall breaks down crying a total of three times. By the time the 150th episode was reaching its climax, his negative thoughts on his father had completely overwhelmed him. He snapped out at the two combatants, despite being perfectly fine with the matchup beforehand and outright idolising Macho Man to the point in which he was willing to forget his past grievances with his father if they were one and the same. Even the reveal that his beloved mother was actually alive did nothing to help - all he could do was awkwardly state that he thought his father was with her.

However, once you're able to think more lucidly, you realise that there are plenty of positive memories out there. And sometimes, the negative memories are only a small amount compared to the rest. I feel that was what Boomstick learnt - the business with his father happened when he was super young, since he had received his final stepfather by the time he was four years old. The father had made his choice to leave; it really wasn't through any fault of Boomstick's own and he shouldn't have been kicking himself about it. Otherwise, there were people in his life that genuinely liked him like his mother and his friends (even if his friendships can be rather vitriolic at times), who have stayed with him throughout his life and had a major impact on it that way. He fondly remembers the times spent with his mother, especially the martial arts training, and currently works alongside his friends in a job that suits his (admittedly violent and morbid) tastes. The father was only a small part of his life compared to them. And it is this that helps him to accept that sometimes things don't work out and that it's best to just move on. He has a bit of a cry about it, but is soon able to smile due to the good stuff in his life. As I said before, that smile is absolutely heart-melting.

Yeah, I'm never gonna get tired of this screenshot. Don't be surprised if I decide to use it again for any later blog posts.

With me in particular, sure, those thoughts I mentioned earlier were horrible moments in my life that I wish never happened. But when I see the bigger picture, they're only a small fraction of it. For instance, those bullying moments only occurred in Year 7 or for a small portion of primary school. The bully in primary school ended up moving away and everyone was relieved that the class atmosphere became less toxic as a result. At least two of those tormentors from high school would later be expelled, so it seems that I wasn't the only person they wronged in any sense, and one of the others apparently redeemed himself. And most of the teachers did respond appropriately to the situation, including one who helped me after the "shut up" incident. From Year 8 onwards, aside for some smug brat who was more of a pathetic rival than anything else and some idiots yelling out the same old bullshit about me looking like a "Year 7", I never had to deal with any other cases of bullying. I made some really good friends, some of which I'm still in contact with. I got good grades for my GCSEs and A levels which I'm still proud of, and most of the teachers were pretty supportive, which helped too.

And as for my life in general, I feel it's gone pretty well. Some of the traumas were simply one-off occasions that never happened again, but my mind simply fixated on them because of how it works. But I have a generally stable family life and I would not trade it for anything else. Even my brother, who can be an absolute pain at times, has been pretty protective and supportive of me and we've had some good times together. Plus, I was able to remember several happy moments in my life too, some of which would seem insignificant to someone else too.

And these are just the positive memories I could FIT ONTO the page. I could also mention the time when my brother and I spent time home alone for a weekend and had fun pizza nights in the process, or everything that happened in September 2018, or...

So obviously I had a pretty major epiphany myself like Boomstick did. And I've taken it into account ever since watching that episode. No, I'm not going to play the glad game at all and pretend that everything's okay- that will just be a massive strain and just results in mental health issues getting worse, as Inside Out showed effectively. But I am starting to put my whole life into perspective. Looking at the two images I uploaded, I have significantly more genuinely happy memories to remember than unhappy ones, and the way I see it, that's kind of proof that my life's actually pretty cool.

I still have those nasty flashbacks on a few occasions, sometimes without warning. And they can still hit hard. After all, it's only been four months since I watched that video. But putting them into perspective compared to the uplifting stuff makes them last for a shorter time than they did originally. I can also safely say that I haven't had any brooding moments in the bath recently since October. And since I'm not focusing on how I could get "revenge" for what happened as often now, I can just focus on working towards a healthier mental state rather than simply "forgetting" what happened. Sure, it's likely to be a long road to full recovery due to how long I brooded on them for in the past, but hey, I have a therapist and I can simply discuss this with her. Especially since originally I would have felt too awkward about discussing the full details of these incidents with her, but now don't feel so tense about it. ;)

And as for the anxiety I suffer with regard to the state of the world in general, rather than just my own personal issues? Well, that's why I try and take part in more activist work.

It took quite a bit of willpower to write this post, since this did rely on recounting old memories I'd rather forget. I originally considered writing it around October, but a combination of recovering from a prolonged anxiety attack I had in the first week of that month and stuff happening in my everyday life (pretty good stuff though - I finally got a volunteering placement after ages of searching for one) meant that it was best to wait until the other blog post on Boomstick's situation was up. I even thought of waiting until the 10th October this year, a year after the original release of the 150th death battle, but I realised it would take too long and it was best to get out my thoughts as soon as possible. It's why I'm releasing it in January during the time in which I normally catch a bad case of the winter blues. But I did it. I finally managed to vent out stuff I felt too awkward about discussing in detail before and feel a lot better now, all thanks to a video that initially just seemed like it was going to be a goofy fight between a wrestler and a jug of kool-aid.

It's weird to think that I could end up relating with someone with a completely different background, view on life and reasons for angst in the first place, but as I said before, that's the thing with certain works - anyone can end up finding something that helps them mentally and emotionally even if their circumstances are different to the ones they witness in the work. And if it's a character that they really like, it's all the better when they can relate to them, differences in personality and background aside. Fictional works don't just help us to escape from our real life problems, they can also help us to face them. And even if it's a work like Death Battle that you wouldn't expect to be "inspiring" in the first place, there may be something in them that will come off that way anyway.

Anyway, that'll be it for me going on about my own life and my nerdy interests. Boy, I ramble on a lot. It's a new year and I'm looking forward to essentially moving ahead with my life and leaving the bad times behind. And in a way, I hope the same happens with Boomstick too. I know that he has quite a few other issues in his life too, such as his failed marriages, but having an epiphany over his family situation and the people who truly matter to him is certainly a good start and could lead to good things in his future. As his mother accurately said, "you just might find what you need", and in a way him and I both did that October. :)

Boomstick vs. Daddy Issues - Exploring One Of Death Battle's Major Sub-Plots And Its Outcome

[Note: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the "Meta vs. Carolina", "Red vs. Blue" and "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" death battles. I highly recommend watching these episodes before reading this blog post.]

Season 8 of Death Battle was quite the event this year. Being the ten year anniversary - there were some major things that went down. Mainly that several fights that had been requested for years, such as the "Link vs. Cloud" rematch and "Batman vs. Iron Man" were finally shown. Spin-off DBX even got in on the action itself, showcasing several DBXs that were years in the making and involving a plotline about host Ringmaster struggling to find the perfect co-host.

It also resolved one of the biggest sub-plots throughout its run - the business with host Boomstick and his deadbeat father.

As it turns out, Death Battle isn't just about making famous pop-culture characters bash each other's brains out. There happens to be some story going on alongside it too. Most notable was this sub-plot, which focused on the mental health and abandonment issues that Boomstick had as a result of his father leaving the family when he was younger as well as him wondering whether he'd actually see him again. This was a recurring element throughout several episodes of the show's eight season run so far...until the 150th episode "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" finally brought it to a resolution. And you'd better believe that I really got into that sub-plot.

So whether "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" was SOMEHOW your first time watching Death Battle (I'll be genuinely surprised if this is the case) and you need some context as to what was going on in that episode, or you simply need a recap as to which episodes brought up the sub-plot, or you're simply new to Death Battle as a whole, here it is. My most long-winded post so far on my blog. It took until the end of the year to get this sorted, due to all the episodes I had to look back on in order to receive the main highlights, but I have finally written this article, both as a recap of the story as a well as a way of offering my own views on certain moments.

Beware of spoilers and daddy issues aplenty!

So What Exactly Happened?

As Death Battle mostly focuses on characters fighting to the death and the analysis that goes into researching their powers, most of what we hear about Boomstick's backstory mainly comes in the form of anecdotes that he brings up. We have yet to get a a few view of the incident, but given the information we were given throughout the episodes, here's what we can get from it so far - or at least my interpretation of events.

Some time ago, Boomstick's mother married a man who may have enjoyed fighting as much as she did and they had a son together. Unfortunately, I can only make the assumption that the father was clearly ill-equipped for the job and did not want to be a father in the first place. In particular, he was not happy with the son that they received and was neglectful at best and abusive at worst towards him. Eventually, he left the family to join some war under the guise of "going out for cigarettes".

This...did not exactly do wonders to Boomstick's mental health. In fact, it contributed to several of his problems later in life, such as his alcoholism and his emotional immaturity. His mother did not benefit from the situation either - she went through a stream of unhappy marriages that ended pretty quickly, which I can assume from certain events was that they treated her son the same way her first husband had treated him. By the time she settled on her final husband, Boomstick was still three years old. No wonder the family had so many issues. And it didn't help that he ended up being just as unlikely in marriage as she was.

Apparently the final stepfather was actually a pretty decent guy, but it seems that he is no longer around. Thus this was probably another contributing factor as to why Boomstick wants to find his real father. This had led to several issues that I myself argue to be signs of borderline personality disorder or emotionally unstable personality disorder, such as his emotional instability, occasional mood swings, obsession with alcohol and impulsive behaviour in general. And whilst most people think of romance when they think of the unstable relationships aspect that dominates it, here we have a platonic variant of the "black and white" thinking that BPD sufferers are known for - sometimes Boomstick utterly loathes his father for abandoning him, and sometimes he gets all weepy and attached and wishes that he could turn up again alive and well.

The Buildup To The Event

So that's the set up for the sub-plot in the best way I could interpret it. This is now a timeline of all the episodes that mentioned Boomstick's daddy issues before the official reveal. As there are so many points to discuss about regarding this, I will only go into full detail on episodes where the relationship played a huge role and otherwise simply bring up quick points for other episodes.

The Beginning Period.

At first, "Black Orchid vs. Ivy Valentine" implied that Boomstick's father was a zombie pirate in the same vein as Ivy's, which of course included terrible parenting. The "Top 10 Boomsticks" list reveals that this may not have been the case, as he had fourteen fathers before the age of four.

Also of note is "Flash vs. Quicksilver" where a mildly irritated Boomstick wishes to know where his father is, with Wiz's snide response being "Preferably as far away as possible". Keep in mind that this was three episodes before the following death battle...

Red vs. Blue: Meta vs. Carolina: Dawn Of Awesome - 31st July 2016.

Now this is one important episode to discuss. A crossover between Red vs. Blue and Death Battle! for RvB's fourteenth series, the whole premise was that the skilled freelancer Carolina would fight against the brutish villain known as the Meta. Except that was not the main highlight of the episode in the end. For starters, a running gag throughout the episode is Boomstick using our favourite butt monkey Dexter Grif as a human target for the weapons that he wants to demonstrate. It all brings to mind the times in which Sarge did the same to Grif in the main show itself.

Keep in mind that this is the least embarrassing thing that Boomstick puts him through. Also, notice how Boomstick's armour looks similar to Sarge's, only with some white trimmings.

It all culminates in the climatic moment of the episode where Sarge comes in and wonders just who the two "dirtbags" hanging around Simmons, Grif and Caboose are. Wiz tries to reason with Sarge, but Boomstick is just excited about the shotgun that Sarge is wielding. They seem to engage in a friendly conversation at first, until Sarge starts to confess that Boomstick reminds him of "the son that he never wanted". In return, Boomstick has this to say:

"That's funny! I was about to say you're like the pappy I never had. When I was a kid he ran out on us to join the army and never came back."

Sarge hesitates, and then awkwardly backs away from him. The others are completely stunned, but Boomstick simply thinks of him as a "nice guy".

Actually, this parting would have been less painful if Boomstick had learnt about his father's identity at this point.

At this point in time, this can be interpreted as a one-off crossover event. A simple yet humorous joke made about how similar Boomstick and Sarge are to each other, as well as a sly reference to how Chad James used Sarge as one of his inspirations for Boomstick's voice (the second one is Adam Baldwin and he does not remember the third one). That being said, it does appear to be the starting point for just how broken the relationship between Boomstick and his father truly is.

So What Happens Next?

Now the discovery of who Boomstick's father may or may not be should technically resolve any ignorance on Boomstick's part on where his dad actually is, but alas, he was the only one not to take that into account. Consequently, there are plenty of videos between "Meta vs. Carolina" and "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" that involve Boomstick's angst over the relationship with his father.

• "Hulk vs. Doomsday (Marvel vs. DC): In response to Bruce Banner's imaginary friend being brought up, Boomstick mentions that he had an imaginary friend once. His name, you ask? Dad. Needless to say, Wiz feels very awkward about that fact.
• "Natsu vs. Ace (Fairy Tail vs. One Piece)": The fact that Natsu was abandoned by his adoptive dragon father Igneel (albeit for the greater good) is brought up. Boomstick empathises with him over this, given that he was abandoned by his father too. Though that said, his own father most likely abandoned him for selfish purposes rather than an altruistic reason. Perhaps Boomstick was hoping that Igneel's reasons applied to his own father's as well?
• "Top 10 Dads With Death Battle's Boomstick!": The episode pretty much begins with Boomstick acknowledging that Father's Day has yet again reminded him that he doesn't know who his father is or where he is. Again he identifies with Natsu's situation, though he still thinks of Igneel as a pretty cool dad figure. Additionally, he regrets that his mother never met up with Ron Swanson from Parks & Recreation and ended up hooking up with him, since he would have made an awesome husband and father.
• "Leon Kennedy vs. Frank West (Resident Evil vs. Dead Rising)": Boomstick is jealous of the fact that Leon received a pistol as a gift from his father, stating that all his own father ever gave his was a "smack on the cheek". Of course, the zombie pirate stepfather is brought up again in Frank's preview as someone with an interesting style of corporal punishment, and I assume that the other stepfathers were the same. No wonder his mother kept divorcing them.
• "Top 10 Anime Betrayals With Wiz And Boomstick!": Upon a gross misunderstanding, Boomstick keeps on bringing up "animal betrayals" throughout the episode. When Wiz realises what happened, Boomstick then tries to backpedal by saying that when he said "geese", he meant when Geese Howard's father abandoned his family in Fatal Fury. He then starts pouting about how he "didn't have a dad growing up", or at least not one who would judge him for making mistakes like that, much to Wiz's irritation.
• "Nightwing vs. Daredevil (DC vs. Marvel)": Whilst he doesn't necessarily reference his father directly at that point, Boomstick gets very emotional when bringing up the fact that Matt Murdock's father worked as a boxer, since he was a "good dad" for "punching people for his kid". I assume from this that he likes the idea of having someone with a fighting career for a father and wishes that the same thing applied for him too.
•  "Ultron vs. Sigma (Marvel vs. Capcom)": When discussing Ultron's origins, Boomstick compares him turning against Hank Pym to a teenager who skipped the innocent childhood stage and went straight on to "Screw you dad, you'll never understand!". When Wiz hints that Boomstick can relate to this, it simply prompts Boomstick to flip him off and exclaim "Screw you Wiz, you'll never understand!", all in the manner of an angsty emo teen.

"Listen, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through!" "I would if you just tell me!" "Forget it!"

• "Aquaman vs. Namor (DC vs. Marvel): Part of Aquaman’s backstory involves his mermaid mother returning to his life to reveal his underwater origins. Emotional about this, Boomstick then comments about he wishes that there were more stories about parents coming back in real life too.
• "DBX: Batman vs. Iron Man": In contrast to how the actual death battle, the fight here starts due to Batman and Iron Man getting into a bidding war over...a father. Who happens to be Piccolo from Dragonball. They're not the first to try and bid for him though - Boomstick is. Why doesn't he get him? Because according to Ringmaster, he doesn't have any money. You can just sense the shame on his face at that point.
• "Akane Pilots Mechagodzilla Into DEATH BATTLE!": Wiz turns out to have daddy issues too! Totally called it myself. In his case, he wants to bring his father back to life with cyber-necromancy just so he can say that he actually is proud of his son. Boomstick is not convinced, first warning Wiz that he should just let his father rest in piece due to resurrections never working out, and then when all else fails, simply commenting that "he thought he had issues" when it came to his own father. Interestingly enough, this scene actually becomes more important when considering later events that I'll discuss later on.

Zuko vs. Todoroki (Avatar vs. My Hero Academia) - 23rd August 2020.

Oh boy was this episode torture for Boomstick (and not just because he was attacked with fire and ice by Wiz). The whole premise of this fight was that the combatants were angsty teenage boys with daddy issues. Obviously, this took a real toll on the redneck. He even starts crying about it within the first twenty seconds of the episode...though not before denying having any issues and pulling off one filthy smirk.

"Nope! Everything's fine! I'm fine! Nothing bad. Ever. Happened. EVER."

He cries two more times throughout that episode - the first time when discussing the thickness of the wall of Ba Sing Se and how it is "second only to the emotional walls between him and his dad", and the second time when discussing how Todoroki ended inspiring his dick of a father to become a better hero and then wishing that he'd done the same for his own father too - though not his mother, since she's already perfect. Damn, I knew that Boomstick was still harbouring hurt feelings over his dad's abandonment of him, but I didn't realise that they were that intense.

Death Battle! Red vs. Blue - November 2020.

Now onto another Red vs. Blue death battle - the "Red vs. Blue" episode itself. I would just like to point out that due to the way it was structured, this essentially meant that Michael J. Caboose, who Boomstick seemed to be getting along well with in "Meta vs. Carolina" was on the opposing side.

The theory that Sarge is Boomstick's father is brought up again, with Boomstick thinking of him as a cool guy "you can play catch with" and Wiz being super awkward about this. Boomstick also sees Sarge as a potential father figure due to his mechanical expertise (apparently this is something that all great fathers at good at) as well as a competent leader who keeps "dorks" like Simmons and Grif in line. That said, he does bring up some of his flaws such as his irrational hatred towards the Blues - but it does not overwhelm the positives in his opinion.

This is never a good sign in Death Battle! videos. Most of the time when Boomstick has shown considerable admiration for a particular combatant, they will end up dying in pretty spectacular fashion. Mike Haggar from Final Fight is a prime example, with that incident being the first time that Boomstick ever cried throughout the whole franchise. In fact, Guts from Berserk seems to be the only character Boomstick favoured who actually won his fight, and even then it was pretty much a pyrrhic victory.

Keeping that in mind, I wait as the fight starts.

I do not need to go into great detail about what exactly happened in the fight, except for the fact that the Blue Team makes mincemeat of the Red Team for quite a bit. That is until Caboose tries to "help" Church take Donut down and unwittingly kills Tex in the process...along with the rest of the Blue Team. Oh well, at least he did take out Donut like he intended to.

That just leaves him and Sarge, the leader of the Red Team himself. Sarge goes on an epic rant at Caboose about how this is the moment that they have been waiting for, and that it is time for the "cerillium devil" to die. He makes his move forward...

...And at that point, Tucker's grenade from earlier teleports at his feet. Cue the explosion and inevitable victory for Caboose.

At this point, I'm now erratically thinking "This is it! Boomstick has unwittingly done it! He has finally gotten indirect revenge against the man who abandoned him since childhood, all without realising! And just when he was starting to admire the old soldier too! That's if Sarge truly is his father, that is."

To my surprise, Boomstick seems to be fine with the result. I was actually expecting him to have a full-on crying snot-fest in response to the guy most similar to him dying, but he simply sees it as a cool fight that matched the chaotic nature of Red vs. Blue perfectly. Sure, he does express some sadness over Sarge not being able to "win them all" despite his charismatic nature, "big dad" nature and sheer awesomeness, but it does not overwhelm him for the rest of the video.

Which makes me wonder - would he have reacted differently if he'd known of the connection between himself and the "big dad" guy? Would he have thought "good riddance" or would he have felt genuine guilt? Well, there's one answer that I've been given, and it's that this isn't going to solve his daddy issues in any way at all.

Hulk vs. Broly (Marvel vs. DC).

This was one of the most hyped-up and anticipated matchups of all time in Death Battle! history. It also serves as yet another important episode with regard to Boomstick's daddy issues, especially with the ending.

But let's discuss the build-up first. Partway through the Broly section, Boomstick compares Broly activating his next Super Saiyan form after witnessing Freeza kill his father to himself. And by that, he means that when his father left him, he become a "super alcoholic". Great, well done there, "father figure". You have now turned one of Boomstick's most prominent quirks and one of the biggest running gags throughout the series into something more tragic.

It gets worst. As Wiz proceeds to talk about something to do with Broly's powers, Boomstick has a rather painful flashback to the last time he saw his dad. Apparently, the father was "getting cigarettes", as most neglectful parents planning to abandon their kids do, and judging by Kid!Boomstick's tone of voice (which basically sounds like a higher-pitched and more squawky version of his current voice), he may have realised his father's true intentions.

Wiz doesn't realise this though, and is simply annoyed at Boomstick for not paying attention. Why, how utterly thoughtful of you, Mr. Empathy. Boomstick is snapped out of his thoughts and decides to discuss Broly as well, though to Wiz's confusion, makes it very clear that he means "wail" as in beating up an opponent.

Anyway, once Boomstick gets brought back to his senses, the episode continues as normal. More facts are gone through. The fight is absolutely awesome (as expected). Above all, it's pretty much how we expected Season 7 to end.

But before the episode truly ends, there's an extra scene. Boomstick is casually drinking his beer when DUMMI comes by with a note that a "strange green man in a zoot suit" left for Boomstick. Boomstick eagerly reaches for it and reads it. It's a letter from...his dad?!

Kind of like getting the bill from the Speak To Santa hotline, only he apparently doesn't have to pay money.

End of episode. Roll credits.

Obviously, this adds even more fire to the debate over who Boomstick's real father is. This is the final episode of Season 7 and Season 8 starts again on 7th March 2021. All we can do until then is wait and also think about what the hell we just witnessed.

At this point in time, there are a few options to choose from:

1. Sarge. Pretty obvious one here. He shares the most similarities with Boomstick, including the voice, his love of guns and violence and his tendency to mistreat his underlings. Plus the whole deal with the RvB crossover and their meeting together. Besides, wouldn't it be particularly painful if the person that Boomstick idolised had been the one who let him down all his life? As a "bonus", it was revealed in Red vs. Blue that Sarge originally had a different (and needlessly overcomplicated) name before having a legal name change, thus adding to why Boomstick and his mother cannot locate him.
2. The Mask. He's the strange green man in a zoot suit that DUMMI refers to. The original version in the comics was downright cruel and enjoyed murdering people for the sake of it, in contrast with the watered-down version that Jim Carrey played. Otherwise, just as slapsticky as you'd expect him to be. It would also make "Deadpool vs. The Mask" even more ironic - the whole point was that the fight was set up as a way of getting rid of Deadpool and the final results ended up shaming Wiz and Boomstick. Wouldn't it be even worst for Boomstick if it turns out that he'd been rooting for his deadbeat father the whole time and that maybe it would have been better to root for Deadpool? One thing I will say though is that the last time he send a letter to Boomstick, he wasn't the one who wrote it. It was Deadpool. Which now leads into the third option...
3. Deadpool. These guys have bickered so much with each other every time they've been in an episode together. Yet somehow, they have so many similarities - wacky sense of humour, childlike yet psychotic behaviour, obsession with violence, etc. It would certainly explain why Boomstick hates him so much, and yet seems only a bit less incensed than Wiz by his appearance.
4. Thinking about it, the Mask could have received the letter from someone else from his home franchise. The juggernaut-esque Walter is a safe bet - like Boomstick, he's pretty muscular and strong and can take plenty of damage. Plus, he's an absolute nutcase. Lt. Mitch Kellaway might be another option considering that he wants to hunt down the Mask and would probably be horrified at the thought of dealing with someone like Boomstick, but given some of the stuff we've learnt from Boomstick about his father, he doesn't seem to match up.

In the first DB Cast episode of 2021, the scene was discussed further. We were still not given the true identity of the father, but it was quickly pointed out that the Mask was simply meant to be the "Hermes" of Death Battle, and that the idea of him being the father was a misunderstanding that some fans had with regard to the situation. So that removes every single Mask character from the suspect list. Still leaves two suspects though.

Find The Father!

That letter clearly had an effect on Boomstick, as he now plans to find his father once and for all. Nearly every episode in Season 8 (the anniversary series) has a reference to his daddy issues once again, all leading up to that big moment.

• "Yoda vs. King Mickey (Star Wars vs. Kingdom Hearts)": Apparently, Boomstick is already planning to track down his father. He mentions that fellow host Ringmaster is helping him out with the search. Of course, being someone familiar with the whole Scorpion and Quan Chi hoo-ha in Mortal Kombat (Quan Chi promised to help Scorpion to avenge his dead family, only to turn out to be their killer himself), this just makes me add Ringmaster to the suspect list. Plus, considering how the podcast said that Ringmaster would have a bigger role this year, this made me even more suspicious. And they're both pretty wacky and over-the-top too.
• "Shadow vs. Ryuko (Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Kill la Kill)": In a moment that makes it into the episode, Boomstick compares "mum of the year" Ragyo Kiryuin throwing away her baby to how his own father threw away their relationship. What isn't shown in the full episode though, and instead pops up in Ryuko's preview, is a moment where Boomstick mentions how Ryuko had to witness her father die as soon as she came home to him, and thus has a sob-ridden breakdown over the idea of finally finding his father, only to see him dead.
• "Lex Luthor vs. Doctor Doom (DC vs. Marvel)": Upon bringing up one of the many possible backstories for our favourite evil bald businessman, which happens to involve his dad becoming an abusive and deadbeat drunk, Boomstick ends up emphathising with Lex. Though given the panels that were shown, Lex was less concerned about his father's behaviour than his brother was.
• "Heihachi vs. Geese (Tekken vs. King of Fighters)": The battle concerns two villainous father figures, so you can expect something to do with Boomstick's daddy issues to come out of it. Heck, Boomstick is the first one in the episode to bring up how shitty they are as dads! Later on in the episode, he talks about how he wants to beat up his own dad and throw him off a cliff, similar to what Kazuya wanted to do with Heihachi, and even gets pretty emotional at one point due to thinking back on his daddy issues.
• "Blake vs. Mikasa (RWBY vs. Attack on Titan)": No mention of the father in this episode, though considering how emotional Boomstick was getting at the end of Mikasa's rundown over how her true companions give her a reason to keep on fighting despite her tragic past, maybe there was something there that reminded him of his own abandonment issues (possibly her connection with Eren Yeagar).
• "Po vs. Iron Fist (Kung Fu Panda vs. Marvel): Again, no mention of the father here, but Boomstick does get the sniffles when Po's reunion with his father is brought up near the end of his rundown. If only he could go through something similar...
• DBX: Ooh, some mean shots were fired here in this spin-off series. For all of Boomstick's claims that Ringmaster was helping him to track his father down, Ringmaster mocks his daddy issues behind his back. First in "Zuko vs. Roy Mustang" where he chuckles about it around DUMMI and then in "Sailor Mercury vs. The Blue Ranger" where he provides a crude impression of him bringing his daddy issues up as he loses his sanity. Though the second instance is slightly more forgivable as he was going so insane over the apparent loss of his friends at that point that he probably thought Boomstick was the one speaking rather than himself. Apparently in his mind, Boomstick's daddy issues are what define him. Tragic, really. :(

Sure, there were episodes in Season 8 that didn't bring up the daddy issues, but it's notable that not only did we get several episodes in a row bringing them up, but in some cases came off as more intense than before, similar to the "Zuko vs. Todoroki" episode. Almost as if the letter played a huge role in it.

THE BIG F***ING REUNION...Or Is It?

So it all comes to this - the "Macho Man vs. Kool-Aid Man" fight. Both the 150th Death Battle episode and the resolution of the missing father subplot. This would have only been foreshadowed if anyone had watched the RTX trailer which ended with Boomstick yelling "Dad?!" though. Those who only saw the other trailers that made it seem more like a "Are we really doing this?" fight in the vein of "Deadpool vs. Pinkie Pie" probably got quite a shock over what they actually witnessed.

And given that I was super hyped along watching that RTX trailer, there were clearly questions I expected to be answered. Mainly about whether my theories on the father were right and whether we'd actually get a family reunion.

The episode starts like any other death battle, albeit skipping straight to the “He’s Wiz and I’m Boomstick” section rather than bring up the combatants first like always. That is until Wiz gets interrupted by an incoming call from Ringmaster, which Boomstick eagerly responds to much to his irritation.

Why has Ringmaster called at this time, you may ask? Because he’s apparently found evidence that could uncover who Boomstick’s dad is.

Needless to say, Boomstick is all too willing to find out this information, so he drags Wiz to the location where Ringmaster currently is. Or that's one theory I have on what he did. Alternatively, he could have just decided to head there on his own terms and Wiz followed him out of genuinely concern for his sanity and mental well-being. Ringmaster says that he encountered a tip-off guy and that he's dressed in red, but it isn't clear whether he's referring to the father or the tip-off guy himself. Wiz just expresses his doubts over the whole situation, saying that Boomstick “doesn’t need this” – it’s just nonsense and a waste of time.

Our first combatant Randy Savage, famously known as Macho Man, then arrives in true dynamic fashion, smashing through a brick wall that randomly appeared and stating that what they need is a slim jim. He’s dressed in red, so he could be of help in the search too.

Boomstick clearly interpreted the red clothing as a sign that it was what his dad was wearing though, rather than simply what the tip-off guy would be wearing. And thinking about it, Macho Man looks kinda like a buff sexier version of him…

…And at that point he splutters out “Dad?!” in true awkward fanboy fashion.

Well, the good news is that he's not judging you as a crazy fan so far. But just wait until later...

Wiz instantly denies the idea that Macho Man could be Boomstick’s father – after all, he never had any children for all he knew. But Boomstick is obsessed with the idea, even stating that his mother would have gone for someone like him (sort of calling back to the Ron Swanson scenario in the Father’s Day Top 10). Of course, we as the audience know that Wiz is the one in the right – besides the real life facts he brought up and how the image of masculine perfection in Boomstick’s mind does not match up with how his father probably was in real life, we’ve already received hints throughout the series that it’s likely to be someone else dressed in red. If anything, it’s clearly wishful thinking on Boomstick’s behalf.

And for someone who said that he planned to beat up his father and throw him off a cliff for what he did to him, Boomstick has completely forgotten all past grievances that he had and now sees his would-be father in an entirely positive light. At no point does he bring up any negative things about him in the rundown. Sure, there’s a moment when he looks worried when the Kool-Aid Man enters, likely because of the possibility that he could be the father too (again, the trailers made it seem like an “Are we really doing this?” moment), but that worry immediately gets thrown out the window and he’s back to getting hyped up for the match.

It gets to the point in that Boomstick is actively encouraging Macho Man to win his fight whilst referring to him as his “dad” the whole time. Even when Wiz warns him that the Kool-Aid Man has some ridiculous feats under his belt, Boomstick simply shoots back that he’s just jealous of how awesome his dad is. Again, another sign of the “black and white” thought process of BPD sufferers I mentioned earlier. Several episodes ago he was planning to throw his father off a cliff, and now he would practically give his life for the guy. Which just goes to show that all his life, he never really got away from his father’s influence despite his early disappearance.

Exasperated with this nonsense, Wiz has to leave for a while, but Ringmaster seems on the same boat as Boomstick and reassures him that his “dad” has got this, something that gets Boomstick hyped up yet again. As sweet as it is for Ringmaster to reassure him like that however, it’s unlikely that it was doing any real good, since it only encouraged his further obsession with his father at that point in time.

Despite Boomstick’s wishes though, Macho Man is no match for the Kool-Aid Man and is thus slain. Naturally, Boomstick mourns over the loss of his “dad” in a suitably dramatic fashion, but now Randy, possibly exasperated by this guy constantly pegging him as his father, bluntly tells him that he “ain’t his daddy” before giving out his last breath.

Ringmaster tries to comfort Boomstick over his “loss”, but now seems confused. After all, if Macho Man isn’t his father, then who is? And then, much to Boomstick’s horror, they catch sight of the Kool-Aid Man again and come to another false realisation.

Heck, even the Kool-Aid Man seems worried about the possibility.

Now this is the moment I feel that Boomstick properly hit rock bottom. Not only did he witness one of his idols die in front, but now he’s been forced to face the truth that someone of perfection could NOT have been his father at all (well, of course not, his actual father was a deadbeat jackass). And then there’s the possibility of being related to a living embodiment of powdered drink mix. I mean, what does that say about your own physiology if that’s the case.

Wiz then comes back to find Boomstick panicking over the possibility of being the Kool-Aid Man’s son and Ringmaster looking pretty bummed out. Wiz however is not convinced by this and tries to cool things down by asking Ringmaster about the tip-off guy he hired.

Things get even worse for Boomstick and his situation when Deadpool suddenly turns up on cue and starts goofing around in front of them, as well as boasting about how he came dressed in red and boasting about his status. Which is super rich of him considering that he also had a deadbeat father as well as many other similarities to Boomstick, but oh well. As usual, considering their past meetings with him, Wiz and Boomstick are unamused, but Ringmaster is surprisingly reasonable and simply asks him for the information they need on Boomstick’s father. Deadpool however claims that he isn’t the tip-off guy and that Macho Man is the one they should be asking about this…which is pretty inconvenient considering that he’s currently dead.

Not to worry though, as since Kool-Aid Man has healing powers as well, he uses the power of Kool-Aid to bring Randy back to life and they seem to strike up a friendship with each other in the process. But at this point, Boomstick is just done with everything. The man he once idolised is not related to him in any way, he may have been friends with somebody Boomstick couldn't stand anyway and nobody else has brought up any useful information. Instead of being relieved that Macho Man is alive, his frustration manifests as him snapping out at the two combatants that earlier on he had no problem with at all.

“One. Last. Time. Where. Is. My. Father?!”

Yep, that’s pretty much what obsessing over someone who gives little toss about you does to your mind. It makes you forget the people you actually like and the ones that truly care about you. And you can pretty much tell how strained he is from all those past episodes of angsting over his father.

We don’t know exactly what Macho Man and Kool-Aid Man’s responses were, since we end up with a hard cut to black. But whatever they responded with, it leads to Boomstick, Wiz and Ringmaster walking up to a shabby trailer later that night whilst a guitar strum plays. Which, if you’ve watched Red vs. Blue, you ought to be familiar with. Perhaps Sarge might be in here and it would prove him as the father once and for all?

And whatever else happened during that cut CLEARLY did a number on Boomstick’s emotional state. Either that or it was just the culmination of hitting rock bottom over his thoughts over his father. He doesn’t seem that determined when going up to the door – instead, he’s downright terrified, giving anxious glances to his friends, clutching his hands together and rapidly knocking on the door.

He gets a pretty quick answer – mainly a shotgun blast that sends the door flying into his face. As he struggles to get up, someone yells about how they thought that it was one of those “goddamn squirrels” out there. The voice sounds surprisingly feminine though, and nothing like Sarge at all.

And there’s a reason for this. Because when the speaker steps out of the door, it’s not him. It’s an old woman. Who, given the fact that she asks “Is that you, Booby?”, seems to have some history with Boomstick.

That’s it. THAT’s the family reunion Boomstick gets. Not with his father, but with his mother.

Needless to say, Boomstick is startled by this discovery and blurts out his mother’s name with possibly more emotion than he did with his father’s earlier on. And, in a particularly interesting moment, she hugs him first, rather than vice versa. Seems that, unlike Sarge in “Meta vs. Carolina”, she was more than relieved to see her son again.

This is no Railway Children moment though. Rather than any tears of relief and gushing over how he's so relieved that she's alive, Boomstick instead awkwardly hugs her back and mentions in a stilted tone that he was expecting his dad to be there. Yep, that's right. At this point, the search for his father has taken such a toll on him that he couldn't even express joy over the fact that a genuinely caring relative was still alive.

We didn't even get the "Mummy, oh my mummy" line.  :(

Mama Boomstick can only respond that she also thought that the father was there. Which, if you ask me, hurts for two reasons. The first is because it pretty much confirms that Boomstick’s search for his father is likely all for naught. The second, and less obvious, is that a particular realisation dawns on you. Boomstick may have been screwed over by his father leaving the family, but so was his mother. Besides the stream of unsatisfying marriages she went through afterwards, it’s kind of implied that she had to raise Boomstick herself for most of his life, considering that he received his final stepfather before the age of four and even he seems to be missing now. And now it implies that, like her own son, she had a fruitless journey to find her first husband too. I'd be super curious to know the details of that one too.

Mama Boomstick's pretty optimistic though. Apparently when on her own implied quest to find her husband, she learnt that "you can't worry about what you hope for, 'cause then you might miss the way things turn out". She starts by bringing up the fact that Boomstick's got "two real good friends here helping him". How she could have known the extent of their friendship, I have no idea, but that's mothers for you. They apparently know everything. Wiz and Ringmaster are just as surprised as Boomstick is by the remark, with Wiz being all flustered and Ringmaster looking tremendously happy, what with him doing the thumbs up.

Classic Ringmaster. Everyone knows he's the comic relief. X)

This should technically be an immediate source of comfort for Boomstick, but apparently not. Whether it’s because he still thinks that things aren’t complete without his father, he realises that his father’s not coming back at all, he’s emotionally overwhelmed by the fact that there are people there for him or a mixture of all of these factors, he starts crying in front of his mother, whilst resigning himself to the fact that “you can’t always get what you want”. Mama Boomstick on the other hand places a hand on his shoulder and reassures him that “you just might find what you need”, again having more optimism and hope about the situation. And, if you ask me, providing an interesting echo of Wiz's "he doesn't need this" line.

What happens next is that Boomstick gives his mother the sweetest smile possible. X')

Watch this, folks. You can actually pinpoint the second when his heart melts into Kool-Aid.

He then proceeds to wipe the last of his tears away and thank his mother for her kind words. Thus going for the opposite route that Wiz did in the Mechagodzilla preview and learning to move on.

There are two reasons why this is so adorable. The first is because at this point Boomstick had a major epiphany about the people in his life. First there’s Wiz, who, despite the constant bickering between the two of them, has still stuck by him throughout the course of the show and has occasionally served as a source of comfort for him during his particularly blue moments. Then there’s Ringmaster, who despite being a narcissist who preferred to have a “normal” co-host on DBX and joked about Boomstick’s obsession with his father, still went out of his way to help locate his father and was by his side during the awkward moment with Macho Man’s temporary death and Kool-Aid Man supposedly being the father. And of course there’s his mother, who was a genuinely caring parent towards him despite some of her more…unorthodox approaches to parenting. In a way, he’s realised that he doesn’t need to worry about the father who abandoned him, because there are people in his life who haven’t abandoned him at all. Wiz certainly was right when he said that Boomstick didn't need to find his dad at all.

The other reason is if Mama Boomstick was also referring to herself when she was talking about not worrying about what you hope for and how you might find what you need. I mentioned earlier on that Boomstick had a tendency to view certain men as perfect candidates for people his mother could marry, such as Ron Swanson and Macho Man. But apparently he didn’t need to worry about that. In her mind, it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t have a husband currently, because the most important person in her life right now is her son. Oh he's certainly not the image of perfection that he felt that his potential substitute father options were, but she doesn't care. He's her baby and the time they spent together is way more important than any potential time with an idealised husband.

And when you think about it, Mama Boomstick was likely talking to the audience just as much as she was talking to her son. I mean, it certainly felt like she was talking to me. I pretty much made the same mistake as Boomstick did and hoped for some Railway Children-esque reunion between father and son, albeit with Boomstick calling his father out in the process and getting him to apologise, simply because of the similarities between him and Sarge. That didn't happen at all, but honestly certain factors that happened earlier in the episode would have made it an unsatisfying reunion anyway. The discussion between Boomstick and his mother may not have been what I was expecting, but damn it was way more emotionally satisfying than what I previously hoped for.

Now that Mama Boomstick knows that her son is going to be okay and is in a better mental state than before, she sends him on his way, especially since she needs to shoot the squirrels outside her trailer. Wiz and Ringmaster are naturally terrified of this and run away for their lives, but Boomstick just lets out a hearty laugh at the same time that his mother does. Likely because this is apparently a pastime of his mother's that he knows well. But for me, the laughs come as a sign that both of them have moved on from the man who abandoned them all those years ago and are looking forward to a brighter future as a result.

As all three hosts continue running off into the forest, we hear another guitar strum as a familiar soldier in red armour stands nearby, confused by the laughing that he just heard and how it sounded "familiar".

And as the screen pans up to the stars above, he wonders whether he really did have a son all those years ago. So apparently Sarge may have been the father all along as suggested before!

Some people may have panicked over this and thought "Oh no, Boomstick only just got over his father and now there he is!". I don't really see this as a problem though - considering that Boomstick admired Sarge to ridiculous extremes and glossed over anything bad his father might have done when he thought it was Macho Man, it would have only led to the same problem playing out with Boomstick glossing over anything bad Sarge might have done and not accepting any arguments against it. Besides, the dialogue implies that Sarge forgot that he had a family in the first place (apparently the war does that to you) and it would have just been a cringeworthy reunion as a result, just like the first one that this scene apparently renders non-canon.

There is one way that I interpret this - in a dose of sweet karma, it seems that Boomstick has finally let go of his heartache, but now Sarge is the one obsessed with his family connections. Does this mean he might go on the same self-destructive journey his son did? Keep in mind that specific events in Red vs. Blue did break his pride - gaining a fear of heights, finding out that he was just cannon fodder, realising that he didn't know what to do without the war, becoming a bad guy to gain a new purpose in his life, having to experience the D-Day landings.

Sure it’s probably going to be a long road to mental recovery for Boomstick, as indicated in the Popeye character preview when he hints at the similarities between his own situation and the time when Popeye’s father rejected him for being ugly. But the meeting he had with his mother was certainly a good start. Though considering that the scene only happens in the preview and was completely replaced in the actual “Saitama vs. Popeye” episode, either it was a continuity error that got fixed or that Wiz and Boomstick planned for “Saitama vs. Popeye” to be the actual 150th episode before Ringmaster interrupted, and they simply didn’t change the previews.

Either way, what we’re finally getting now is the start of Boomstick moving on after several years of frustration and grief over his father. Even if he might still bring up certain moments of his past in rundowns next season, it's likely not going to be as bad as it was before his emotional epiphany. So what was the final answer to that "Who was Boomstick's father?" question? Well, it could be Sarge, but the real answer was that it ultimately didn't matter. What matters is everyone else in his life and his own mental well-being.

Well, that concludes my long recap of a messy tale of parental abandonment and mental health issues, which ultimately led to a hopeful resolution, even if it wasn't the one that Boomstick was expected. even after all that looking back, there may have still been some details I left out, given how detailed it gets. I have to admit, I got extremely invested in this sub-plot despite the normal format of the "character fights character" plot of each episode - I guess that's what happens when you really like the characters you encounter. Anyway, here's to next year's Death Battle season and to a brighter future for Boomstick - hopefully he'll be able to resolve some of his other issues in the same way this one was resolved too. ;)