The Extinction of Ice Age - The Cold Opening

Why I'm Writing This

Sometimes a film does well, and sometimes it does so well that it starts a franchise. Unfortunately, said franchise can eventually be killed off with a combination of terrible execution and marketing, as well as not living up to the first installment.

This is sadly the case with the Ice Age franchise. It's been twenty years since the first film was released and received both critical and commercial acclaim, kickstarting the franchise off. It has also been six years since the fifth film flopped at the box office during the Summer Bomb Buster of 2016 and the franchise essentially ground to a halt in the process. Recently we had a new film on Disney+, but it's a spin-off that focuses on the supporting characters rather than the main ones, and the fact that the original creators Blue Sky Studios went under in 2021 meant that a different company animated it instead - specifically the one that worked on the divisive second season of gen:Lock.

For me, this is an absolute pity. The first Ice Age film is one of my favourite films of all time and was both critically and commercially received. It's funny, exciting and packs an emotional punch too. The second film (The Meltdown) is also a fairly enjoyable film, if not up to the same standards as the first one, and I thought the third film (Dawn of the Dinosaurs) was okay, if focusing a bit too much on comedy over an actual plotline. I'm not so fond of the fourth film (Continental Drift) and the fifth film (Collision Course) is absolute garbage. I remember the day in which I realised the fifth film was actually a thing and for once actually being depressed rather than excited. Other Ice Age fans clearly felt the same as I did because they just didn't go to watch it and it's considered to be one of the worst films of 2016.

The ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are a good indicator of the quality drop. The first film has a Certified Fresh score of 77%, which is very impressive (it may not be as high as your typical Pixar movie, which normally has scores above 90%, but I think it's still good enough). The second film goes into the Rotten category with 57%, but I feel that Rotten Tomatoes can be a little strict with the rating system at times - a film has to get 60% or over to be classified as fresh, so even a halfway score is considered to be bad - and I think a third category should be introduced for films like these that get mixed reviews (“under-ripe”, maybe?). But then the third film has 46%, the fourth film has 37% and the fifth film has a measly 18%. The recent spin-off film The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild was slightly better than the fifth one, but still received a paltry 22% and has dire animation, so it's safe to say that the franchise probably isn't recovering any time soon.

When things snowball out of control...

So for the next few blog posts, I will be analysing what exactly went wrong with the franchise. Many things will be taken into account and I will definitely be doing a lot of ranting, which explains why I be making separate posts rather than one long post like I have done previously on my blog. Above all, this will mainly be a way for me to find out when these flaws started to become apparent and whether the better-received first film had the first warning signs for them.

The History Of The Ice Age Franchise

I would like to start by discussing the production of the first Ice Age film, which I feel may have some of the answers to the problems that would later evolve with the franchise. Most of this information is from The Art of Ice Age by Tara Bennett, published by Titan Books in Britain and part of the Art of… series of books on film-making. However, the first fact/urban legend I will mention is an interesting one, and one that is not mentioned in the book. It is the idea that Don Bluth was originally going to make it.

Don Bluth, both legendary animator and the supposed former developer of Ice Age. [Note: Use own picture.]

Bluth is an animator most known for his turbulent history with the animation industry. Starting out as an animator for Disney, he left when he felt that the company was dropping in quality and started work on his own projects. This resulted in the classic films An American Tail, The Land Before Time and The Secret Of NIMH, all considered to be the starting point of the Renaissance Age of Animation, and he also created the hit game Dragon's Lair. Unfortunately, starting with the flop that was All Dogs Go To Heaven (though history has been much kinder to it over the years), he ended up releasing the duds Rock-a-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park, Thumbelina and The Pebble and the Penguin, all of which bombed at the box office. He gained some traction back with Anastasia (not a film that I like, but hey, it made money), before utterly bombing with Titan A.E. (again, history has been kinder to it over the years). That last film was indeed the last straw, as he hasn't really done much since then (though he's apparently planning a comeback) and he gave up on whatever projects he was planning at that point.

One of those alleged projects happened to be Ice Age. A film about three mismatched animals trying to return a baby to its father, it has some traits of Monsters Inc. (another film that I love) but also shares traits with Don Bluth's earlier films. Supposedly, Bluth's version would have been a straight-on drama in the same vein as his eighties classics as well as cel-animated. Now whether this is completely true or is simply a rumour, we may never tell - this wiki article in particular doubts its existence. But it if is true, it provides an interesting glimpse into what the film could have been.

I shall now discuss the story that was told in the Art of... book. Producer Lori Forte says that she was looking for ideas for potential new animated movies that 20th Century Fox, who owned Blue Sky Studios at the time, could invest in. At the time, there had been plenty of films about dinosaurs, but "there was an area, a world, a "big idea" that no one had really tapped into yet in animation - the Ice Age" (p. 6). Forte remembers being puzzled by this, since "it's such an amazing period with an array of beautiful, majestic creatures, most of which are now extinct" (p. 8.). And so in order to allow people to get a glimpse into this world, she teamed up with director Chris Wedge and scriptwriter Michael J. Wilson in order to create what she saw as a "beautiful, heart-felt" story.

This take on events is a lot more idealised than the previous take I mentioned, but there are still similarities between the story involving Don Bluth and the story told in this book. The original film was a lot more dramatic in scope, focusing on the tension between animals and humans and simply being an adventure story where three alienated misfits grew closer to each other as they tried to save a baby from sabre tooths. Instead of the humorous beginning sequence we got in which Scrat desperately tries to bury his acorn before being stomped on for his troubles, it instead began with protagonist Manny have a nightmare about the day his family were murdered by hunters - a scene that would get transferred to later on in the final product. Similarities can potentially be seen between this and Blue Sky's 1998 Academy Award winning short Bunny, a moving story about the titular widow which explores the concepts of grief and the afterlife with the deceptively simple tale of her being bothered by a pesky moth whilst trying to bake a cake.

Forte says that "all the stars seemed to align for us, except for one hiccup. Our script was an action-adventure and Fox wanted the movie to be a comedy" (p. 6). I assume that the failure of the gritty Titan A.E., which sunk their original 2D animation studio may have had something to do with this train of thought, or maybe they wanted to cash in on the 2001 monster smash that was Shrek. Either way, they wanted the final product to be less serious than the one they had so far.

The issue was fixed by bringing in screenwriter Michael Berg, who provided a "comedy rewrite". As said by assistant director Carlos Saldanha, Fox wanted certain sequences to be "funnier". That said, the emotional core was still there - Manny is grieving over the loss of his family and there's a touching reunion scene at the end between the baby and his father. After several more edits and preview showings, with one of the later major changes involving Diego's original permanent death becoming a temporary one, all they had to do was release the film and hope that it did well.

The final product was a massive success. It received positive reviews from critics and showed the world that Pixar and DreamWorks weren't the only animation companies who could release successful CGI animated movies. According to Box Office Mojo, against a budget of around $59,000,000, it grossed $176,387,405 domestically and $206,869,731 internationally to bring in an overall gross of $383,257,136. It was also nominated for the Oscar and the Annie Award for Best Animation Feature-Length Film, though it ultimately lost out to Spirited Away both times. Overall, it got Blue Sky Studios started in the feature-film business for real.

There is no doubt that I find this film to be perfect. However, Fox's obsession with comedy would prove to be a thorn in the side for the sequels, as the next few posts will explain.

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. ;)

Walking Round London At Christmas Time

I'm pretty busy most of the year round, and Christmas time just adds to that stress on occassion. Sometimes, I'm worried I won't be able to get anything done on time. Recently however, I gained an interest in seeing the Christmas lights in London with my mother. Given the nature of the lights, this means heading up to London by train in the afternoon, just as it's about to get dark, and then heading back once it's pitch-black and we've seen everything. In a way, I'm doing it as a means of working on my mental health and anxiety - sure, there's the risk of train delays and not getting back until late, but otherwise I get to unwind just looking at what London has to offer.

I first started travelling to London to see the Christmas lights in 2019, though my brother was able to see them when he was younger. This year we headed up on the 2nd December, just so we could see them before London got busier as it go closer to Christmas Eve.

We started off at Bond Street, which has had the same peacock feather lights each year and in fact doesn't even turn them off outside the Christmas season. The photos came out pretty badly, so I'll show on from 2020 instead (keep in mind that it was taken before Britain went into another Covid-linked lockdown).

Oxford Street is arguably the one that everyone remembers the most. After all, Coldplay does reference it in their "Christmas Lights" song. That said, aside from the trees with the coloured fairy lights on, the lights there are pretty simplistic most of the time when compared to the other streets. In 2019 and 2020, they were mainly sheets of lights that would form words and occasionally snowflakes. I know this photo is pretty blurry, but it was the only message I didn't take a photo of from the back.

This year though was different. They had these really nice star lights hanging between the buildings.

Another major aspect of London around Christmas is all the extravagant displays they have in the windows of the major department stores. Selfridge's is just one of them. They seemed to have a general theme this year. I particularly liked the clapping hands on the spinning wheels.

In 2020, they had different Christmas trees, some of which were made out of toys. I'll upload the pink Christmas tree here because it was one of the few that came out good quality, and also because I like the colour.

2019 was fairy-tale themed, referencing works such as Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk. Thus the giant foot they had in this window.

Regent Street has practically the same angel decorations each year. I've never seen them use any different ones before. That said, they are still very pretty. Most of the good-quality photos I took were when it wasn't completely dark yet.

Like Selfridge's, the Liberty's department store had some really good window displays too. Besides there being quite a bit of pink this year, it also involved a string of envelopes.

Next was Carnaby Street. Honestly, this is the real hotspot when it comes to London's Christmas decorations each year. This year, they had these beautiful butterflies in shades of pink, yellow and blue. There're not necessarily lights, but that's okay because they still look great and they look especially nice when it's not completely dark out.

Last year, they had signs with messages on about love and hope. Not as extravagant as their usual displays are, but they were doing it in the time of Covid after all.

The year before, they had pretty marine creatures such as seahorses, starfish and even whales.

Fortnam & Mason's is another department store famous for its Christmas window displays, and they never fail to impress. The upper windows are done to resemble advent calendars each year, with each number lighting up as the days progress. None of the pictures I got this year were particularly great, so I'm showing one from 2020.

On the ground floor, like with the other shops, they had displays matching a different theme each year. This one was so adorable - it consisted of animals having Christmassy dreams involving different types of food. For instance, here is an owl dreaming of tea and biscuits (Americans, you'll know them best as cookies).

Last year was Fortnam & Mason's anniversary so they recreated the covers of the catalogues they had over the years. Here is one of the recreations.

And here's the catalogue cover it was based on.

In 2019, they had cats in smart tuxedos getting things prepared for Christmas.

Afterwards, we needed to warm ourselves up, so we went to get a hot drink at Waterstone's. I chose the hot chocolate and chocolate orange cake whilst my mother chose the coffee and chocolate brownie, and we also swapped parts of our cakes to share with each other.

Waterstone's also had a nice Christmas tree in the children's books section. Sure, I'm in my early twenties, but somehow I always find children's books to be the best ones to read. Along with graphic novels, which sometimes overlap with them and sometimes don't.

Once we were finished, we went into Soho to see the Christmas lights there. These were an absolute JOY. Currently, they're having kids from primary schools design Christmas lights, with the winners having theirs become a reality. It started in Glasgow, but now other places are getting in on it, even my local town. Naturally, they end up looking exactly how you expect children's drawings to look. And I love it. :)

Here's one of an angel that I particularly loved.

And I really liked this reindeer as well. I would have probably shown you the whole lot, but the glare of the street lights above kind of interfered with some of them.

And that was pretty much it - we got home just before 7pm that night, with no problems with the trains at all. So there really wasn't any need for me to show concern about my timetable after all. I just got to enjoy seeing what London looked like around Christmas time.

I will say that I am aware of the problems of commercialism around the Christmas season - in fact, I would barely go to those department stores on a normal day since I can't really afford anything from them. But being someone who normally has a hectic schedule and doesn't have time to spend the evening out on a normal day, it's nice to just take a break and see what the city has to offer with its decorations and lights. Some people would see the city as fast-paced, but whenever I go there in the holiday season, it's oddly soothing. Especially with the Christmas lights designed by children. :)