#no more heroes self insert: shallow candy

[malewifehenrycooldown]

YOU PUSH ME DOWN AND EXPECT ME NOT TO FIGHT BACK?

"When I said I wanted something interesting to happen in my life, I meant it in a 'breaking into the visual art scene' type of interesting. I did NOT mean it in a 'I picked up a second job as a ranked assassin', because I thought the fliers advertising it was a joke, so I signed it for shits and giggles. How was I supposed to know that it was the real deal!?"

> [ no more heroes self insert: shallow candy ] <

{ self insert uses she/her, they/them, fae/faer and pix/pixs pronouns }

image links below!

[🍦] / [☠️] / [🧁]

[💙] [🖤] [💜] / [💙] [🖤] [💜] / [💙] [🖤] [💜]

[💙] [🖤] [💜] / [💙] [🖤] [💜] / [💙] [🖤] [💜]

[🍦] / [🧁]

#shallow.moodboards #self insert tag #self insert aesthetics #ok to reblog #nomoreposting #suda51posting #image described in alt text #moodboards #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart

[jcmorgenstern]

Ok bc I’m procrastinating for studying for the exam I have (tomorrow) and have thoughts:

I’ve been seeing a lot of really interesting discussion around the jonathan/jace bond in the books vs the jonathan/clary bond (namely a really interesting point from @grayacejace about clary’s agency) and despite my obvious bias it got me thinking. I feel like as a fandom we sometimes rag on CC making Clary an obvious self-insert, I think there’s something exceedingly genre-appropriate about it, and it’s a deliberate choice that works in a way where shadow hunters’ choice to treat Clary as the hero and determinant of her narrative also works in its own context.

What I often forget is that TSC are for kids, specifically, I would argue, young girls. When I was 14 and reading Harry Potter I wasn’t analyzing every frame for social meaning, I was imagining myself along for the ride with Harry and his friends and how amazing it would be to be part of their adventure. I’m not sure if this is a universal experience, but I’d be willing to wager it’s not uncommon. TMI is a liberalization of that child fantasy, as well as a reflection of fan fiction genre conventions of the time. CC didn’t write Clary as a badass feminist who takes charge of her own storyline and beats up men and constantly is bowed down by the weight of the world …you know.

She wrote Clary as a pair of eyes through which little girls could experience the wonder and excitement of being part of the fantasy narrative they’re so often excluded from. Clary fits the bill for every Mary Sue self-insert because she is one, and that’s intentional—and not necessarily something to make fun of. She’s the daughter of the main villain and has special powers and has this instant and intensely romantic connection with a boy pretty much tailor-made for 2003 pre-teen girls. Clary in the books is CC drawing on the conventions of literary tradition of fan fiction from that time—she is not as much the main character but the avatar through which young girls can experience being special and going on amazing adventures.

Which isn’t to say there’s no feminist or critical message and all fan fiction and self-insert fic is just stupid mental cotton candy. There’s a strong sense of wistfulness and struggle with femininity that I think is one of the most subtle but powerful parts of the books—Clary describing her femininity as “a housewarming gift she doesn’t know what to do with.” CC’s depiction and subversion of femininity is actually quite fascinating even in her missteps (the rivalry with Izzy, for example), though honestly lbr we probably were all like that at 16, for better or worse. Clary’s relationship with Jace is, I think, telling girls what they should hold out for in a partner, that they can deserve someone who makes them feel special. Jonathan is an inversion of Jace who is deceptively attractive but treats Clary like shit and is, lets be honest, sexist as fuck, among other things. He’s dressed as the fairytale ending she’s promised with Jace but is actually something toxic and evil. Dru’s storyline in TDA reads as intensely personal and emotional—a girl constantly excluded and sidelined, because of her age and her weight and her general introversion, but someone who is strong and capable and compelling—and the right people see that in her and honor her for it.

Which is a complete diversion from the point that got me here but simply put: COLS works because the message and intent and even the very narrative form fits it. I could cite a whole slew of scholarly work about about fan fiction, the female gaze, and the fan mediation of male homosociality through self-insert female characters (thanks cultural studies for making me say ‘homosociality’), but basically: it’s fitting with the fan fiction literary tradition CC is from and helped build that the female character is the avatar for the audience to observe what, okay maybe this is personal bias, is a pretty charged dynamic between Jonathan and Jace (morally or sexually, take ur pick). Clary mediates that bond and ultimately, because the books are about validating the reader (while again subverting certain expectations), Jonathan’s obsession turns to her and is ultimately revealed to be exactly what it is: toxic and evil, Jace’s association with him completely fake.

The show is operating on a different narrative paradigm, where Clary is the traditional “protagonist as hero” approach, complete with Clary’s own hero’s journey. As Dyl (@greyacejace) pointed out, in the books Clary’s storyline is often focused around others—she’s the avatar for the reader more than a character of her own. I hope I’ve convinced you that isn’t necessarily a bad or shallow thing, but the show definitely has aged up the narrative. Clary is an adult, with adult problems and challenges, and the show tackles them with varying levels of success. Now, in season 3, she is no longer the audience avatar in any way, not even for the sake of exposition—often she is telling other people expositional elements or discovering things along with us. She is not an observer but a character,  and as such the bond with Jonathan (along with pretty much every other plot element they can think of…not 100% a fan of all of that, if spoilers rumors are to be believed) has been shifted to her.

I’m not really sure “incestuous sexual obsession” is really the honor we want to be bestowing on our Strong Badass Female Characters(TM), but that’s the honor Clary gets. Personally given how the show has handled rape themes in the past I’m not exactly bursting with joy to see how they’ll tackle Clary being mind-controlled by her brother who wants to do….well, exactly that, but I guess that’s the brave new world we live in. I honestly didn’t intend to bitch THAT much about things but basically: the Clary of the books is a girl who’s biggest threat is that her father and later brother want to take her Hot Boyfriend away from her (and maybe kidnap her in hell but REALLY the big problem here is taking away her Hot Boyfriend, the rest is kind of hand-waved away). Clary of the show is an adult woman who has adult woman problems, like men who want to rape her and think of her as a particularly personable piece of furniture that will solve all his problems.

(He’s thinking of a therapist, but too dumb to know that).

Obviously there are a lot of gross simplifications here, especially of Jonathan’s character (in another universe I could and probably would write an angry meta screed slamming my own meta’s portrayal of my ‘’sweet baby boy’’ but ill leave that for another day. Was that a self-deprecating joke lamp-shading my own obnoxious stanning? Yes it was). Point is, I don’t think the two narratives are entirely comparable as they follow different narrative structures and paradigms and follow different goals with different results. Jace vs Jonathan is about how two boys react differently to abuse and nature vs nurture; Clary vs Jonathan is about the definition of heroism vs villainy and how good motives can be betrayed by bad actions and how that compares to bad motives and bad actions—whether the end can ever justify the means.

Anyway tldr leave me and my idiotic sebjace ass alone but this shit slaps too

#i dont even have a non jonathan meta tag what do i doooo #welcome to my crispy mind #i love a crisp boy #anyway that was a lot of rambling but i had thoughts and they all spewed out at 100 mph

[malewifehenrycooldown]

It took a while, but I finally made a complete reference for my NMH self insert 'Shallow Candy'!

This is actually a redesign of Shallow, and honestly I am vastly more happy with this new design over the old one. I had a lot of fun designing her! Below cut is some more details about her!

[ self insert uses she/they/fae pix pronouns! okay to reblog! ]

some details that are important to know:

has a big sweet tooth. please be wary of any confectionery you leave in your house.

she's autistic and has narcolepsy (with cataplexy)!

has space-time, portal creation and gravitational generation powers. she's not an expert with these powers and is still trying to control them. but the fact she has them does make her a unpredictable opponent to fight.

reason for her low UAA ranking is that she isn't the most active assassin in the organisation (which sometimes forgets she exists lol). that said she's not a pushover either!

good friends with bishop and travis. they have video game and movie nights together :3

works at Area 51/Airport 51!

has a big giant crush on henry cooldown, oops sorry travis.

Design Notes:

her skirt was inspired by this outfit!

her shoes are pretty much this pair of demonias lol (called GRIP 102)

#🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #okay to reblog #shallow.art #shallow draws #shallow does art #nomoreposting #suda51posting #self insert tag

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Me rambling about my ship with Henry + being emotional about a specific song from my self ship playlist with him.

click the keep reading if you’re interested looking over my incoherent ramblings!!!

GOD. Listening to Sleep Token’s Jaws really strikes a specific emotional chord with me that’s hard to explain other than THAT CRESCENDO of instruments is so powerful.

ALSO THE LYRICS. CRYING SCREAMING LOOK AT THE LYRICS!!!

JUST THE PASSAGE OF “show me those pretty white jaws / show me what you’ve lost / show me what wounds you’ve got / show me love” IT MAKES ME ALLL FERAL INSIDE JUST AHRRRGGGH!!!!!.

IT SHOULD be mentioned that again, this is just one of (MANY) songs that perfectly encapsulates my ship with Henry, esp. in context of NMH3 + Henry’s whole character arc (that’s running around in my head) is of him slowly recognising that he is more than an assassin, that he more than a weapon to be used by his family, and that with this new found freedom he can potentially carve out his own individual path without having to listen to the order’s of other people.

And yet after all this time in his life, it’s someone like Shallow Candy, who is the one of the few people he meets that takes the time to see him as a flawed, traumatised human being that is more than an assassin. She cares about him, she worries about him because she’s one of the few people who knows the true extent of his upbringing. She loves him regardless of his flaws, and that even after his disappearance in between nmh2 and TSA, she is still devoted and in love with him. She doesn’t give up on him, even if people in the assassin world keep telling her that he’s not coming back.

And when he does come back in TSA, she desperately wants answers from him, she loves him but god it almost broke her when he left; and when she finally gets the answers she needs and the he’s been doing this to protect her (and jeane) from the Cooldown Family’s grasp. She’s emotionally torn because she knows Henry is a man capable of anything but that she wants him to know that he doesn’t have to do it alone. Henry knows that deep down he doesn't have to take on his adopted family alone, but there's a part of him that wants to keep his personal and professional life separate. Plus in his mind, this is his problem to deal with (even if its not the most healthy decision).

When the Flesh and Blood episode in NMH3 happens, it utterly pains her to see Henry in such an emotional state but god her heart still aches for him. And although she isn’t the same naive 20 year old lady in NMH1, she does insist on showing Henry that there are ALWAYS other options, other choices that Henry can make that aren’t self destructive. Shallow wants him to know that he doesn’t have to go through such mental and emotional torment like this alone, that there are people who would be happy to share a part of the so called ‘burden’ and help him get back on more healthier path compared to the one he’s going down.

Her unconditional devotion and love for him, is what keeps bringing him back to her even if he fears that returning to her could potentially put her in danger. He doesn’t want to risk losing someone like Shallow, because for most of his life he’s never really had any semblance of proper control of his life, and now that he does have that freedom, he doesn’t want to risk having those things ripped away from him again. That’s why he’s so distant in TSA and NMH3, it’s his messed up coping mechanism that makes him believe that he’s doing the right thing when really it’s as the major cost of his own mental well-being. He does want to come back but again that fear of placing those he cares about in danger haunts him day and night, to the point of genuine exhaustion.

And so when Shallow accept him back into her life, he almost wants to fall part because so much of his assassin training has made him internalise toxic and harmful rhetoric. Its to a point where Henry kind of has a hard time comprehending as to why Shallow would still love him after all these years and would wait for him for SO LONG until he came back. And honestly she just believes the fact that people are complicated, that even if you’re an assassin, you are a human being with their own life, personal problems and it still comes as a complete shock to him that Shallow is still so deeply in love with him, despite the fact he's left her and the people he cares about for SO LONG. But honestly a more simple reason for her to wait for Henry for SO LONG, is that she wants to do is to help him. She wants to be a shoulder that ze can lean on and just… spill out his emotions. That he doesn’t have to maintain this cold stoic facade around Shallow, or anyone else. he doesn’t need to listen to orders of other people anymore, he finally has the power to take his life back and be control of his own destiny. He can finally just REST for once and be in company of people who care about him genuinely.

LIKE IDK HOW TO SAY THIS, but like. Paradise isn’t a place or a feeling. It’s a person. A person you want to spend your days with, through the good, the bad, the ugly and everything else in between.

Anyways. I’m just going to sit in a corner and cry and scream about this (internally) because goddamn I have SOOO MANH EMOTIONS ABOUT THEM . JUST ARRRRGGGGHHHH

#I AM SOOOOO OKAY RIGHT NOW #god if you somehow read all the way through I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH /platonically #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #nomoreposting #suda51posting #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #nmh3 spoilers #shallow rambles #image described #blood tw #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart

[malewifehenrycooldown]

TW for slight mentions of henry’s emotionally abusive parents + big warnings for those with tokophobia as this post is a decently indepth discussion of fankids.

HHHHH OKAY. So. I’ve been sitting on this idea since April, and only now I’ve felt a little comfortable talking about it since I’ve mentioned it to @eris-ships. But also the developments that occur in TSA/NMH3ms narratives have def made me a bit more confident in my decision to talk about having fankids with Henry. Like look. I don’t want to have kids myself (it’s a whole can of worms that’s basically just: ‘I can barely take care of myself, how do you expect me to raise a whole human being from scratch?!’).

Anyways what kinda spurred this was from NMH3’s peculiar ending + these images [one, two and three] and the third one particularly made me want to throw my phone because it triggered my baby fever BIG TIME but also just the thought of Henry being a good dad made me so happy 😭😭

But also at the same time it’s so sad too especially With knowing the implications of his backstory and how his own childhood was taken from him, and so that’s what makes the thought of him being a dad SOO appealing to me. To me, he’d do anything to make sure his own kids don’t experience the same horrors and trauma he did as a kid. It’s like. Him making up for lost time that he never got and. GAH THAT MAKES ME SO EMOTIONAL?! [I’ve made an entire post about this here if you’re interested]

OKAY ON TO THE ACTUAL FANKIDS IN QUESTION:

Amelie (on the left) and Rhys (on the right). Before you ask, yes Amelie is named after the film ‘Amelie’ and it’s important because that film was like a special date night for Henry and Shallow.

The reason that they pop up in NMH3 is that they’ve time travelled back into Shallow’s present bc. Henry has gone on a destructive path and that if he ends up permanently dead, it would result in their own existence being erased by the universe and they don’t want that to happen.

Oh yeah, I should mention they’re on their tenth try to make sure that their parents and future selves are saved. Which is at odds of the (known) time-space rules put in place to keep abilities like this in check. If Rhys keeps resetting the timeline, the more imbalanced and fragile the fabric of space-time becomes - and that could just jeopardise the entire fabric of the universe itself. So yeah. The two are kinda at the end of their rope in regards to options, and honestly causing timeline paradoxes is the least of their worries at the moment.

Amelie is a bit of an odd one out in her family as her personality is a lot more sociable and outgoing. While she does wear a similar fashion aesthetic to her mother, but specifically takes a liking to ‘yami-kawaii’ subculture. her abilities as an assassin are more so from her father. She particularly has her own version of Henry’s ‘barrage mode’ and additionally a beam katana that’s similar to Henry’s Vosmir.

Rhys, is more so the quiet, reserved one much like her parents. They are more comfortable wearing suits, and more masculine attire, but xyr abilities are more so from their mother. Rhys is… kinda responsible for their current journey of doing time travel to secure their future existences + correcting the main course of the timeline in general. Much like their mother, they wield a dual set of beam katanas, but it should be noted that they also use military grade knives + can pack a surprising punch when in close combat.

Before anyone asks, no they’re not twins. Amelie is born first, and she’s about 2-3 years older than Rhys, who is the younger sibling - although they are both younger than Jeane Cooldown. I should stress that they aren’t assassins either but have been trained by parents, but even then their appearance in NMH3 is just two university students trying to save their parents, and this is while the fabric of space-time hangs in the balance and it’s not made any better when your dad was the one to bring aliens into the equation [which has kinda fucked with the main timeline that was put in place to begin with.]

Amelie uses she/they, Rhys uses xe/they/it pronouns.

Picrew one (LINK) and Picrew two (LINK)

#HHHHH DONT LOOK AT ME OKAY!! #shallow rambles #nomoreposting #suda51posting #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #no more heroes oc: amelie cooldown #no more heroes oc: rhys cooldown #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #tokophobia tw #fankids tw #queue awaits you at the garden of madness #nmh3 spoilers #this is the shortest way of saying ‘CONGRATS TRAVIS YOURE AN UNCLE NOW!!’ #undescribed image

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Inconsequential self insert lore to Shallow Candy: one time when she was like idk 3 or 4 and in Dr. Naomi’s care, she accidentally summoned a black hole (this is kinda the first time she’s aware she has abilities) in her room and her aunt almost fell over in shock because of it. Don’t worry it was resolved pretty easily, I mean she was a child afterall, but it did leave Naomi in a bit of a shock and also she’s learnt to keep an extra eye on her niece whenever possible.

#[f]: dr naomi | the mechanic #nomoreposting #thoughts on queue #self insert tag #self insert ideas #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Fankids mentioned, once again sorry not sorry <3

Before anyone asks why Rhys and Amelie have brown hair, and that’s because Shallow Candy is naturally a brunette, it’s just that she’s dyed it blue. + Henry is also a brunet despite the inconsistencies in his hairstyle throughout the series &lt;3

#the hair dying is done by an actual professional usually #so like if you’re wondering why the blue shows up so brightly is because they’ve bleached it #in. a way that doesn’t cause too much damage to shallow’s hair #shallow rambles #no more heroes oc: amelie cooldown #no more heroes oc: rhys cooldown #fankids tw #tokophobia tw #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #nomoreposting #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart

[malewifehenrycooldown]

a very long ramble-y post about how shinobu and shallow meet + how they become friends (NMH1 centric)

Brain has been twisting and turning when it comes to trying to figure out how Scarlet Jacobs (Shinobu) and Shallow meet, because they never actually face off each other in a rankings fight. But then I remembered in NMH1! Scarlet's design, that she's kinda customized the Santa Destroy High School uniform by adding extra leg warmers of sorts, lace arm-warmers and a scarf. She kind has this 'goth' look to her but that's probably aided by the colour of Santa Destroy High's uniform colours (which hey! is really cool! Purple is a really uncommon colour in school uniforms!)

Unfortunately there really isn't a 'base' Santa Destroy High School Uniform to compare her customized uniform with, but that alone screams to me that she's one of many teens who would probably (and regularly) visit Area 51 / Airport 51, a clothing store run by Mask de Uh in the first two games).

Since Shallow works there, I wouldn't be surprised if Scarlet went there after school hours or maybe she stops by while on her way home, or maybe after an assassin mission or ranking battle she goes there as a sort of reward type thing. IDK, she just kinda comes across as someone who is absolutely into the alternative/punk fashion scene and since assassin jobs actually have a big paycheck behind them, I do see her spending her winnings on cool graphic shirts, jackets + other clothing items and accessories.

I can see the two not really interacting that much, at least at first - especially when Shallow just begins working there and is trying to get the hang of this new type of job experience. Another thing kinda halting their potential interactions (at first) is that Shallow's schedule is mostly relegated to the mornings, so by the time Shinobu shows up to browse through the store - Shallow isn't behind the counter.

That said I like to think they properly interact with each other when Mask de Uh had to attend to something, leaving Shallow having to do the whole day's work shift, and on that day Scarlet comes in after school, still wearing her uniform, and like usual - browses for items and clothes and stuff. When she collects the items she wants to buy, Shallow realises that this girl is actually around the same age as her, if not just a year younger than her and they kinda have some small talk about school. Shallow kinda encourages Scarlet to take a break from study (Santa Destroy High's curriculum is.... a lot more than just studying), and to take time to discover herself. Scarlet at this point hasn't met Travis yet, so she's still kinda introverted but for a split second she drops her guard and takes into consideration the advice.

From there are times where they do cross each other's paths when their off work hours and after-school hours line up (which is very rare), and it usually starts out as small talk before actually kinda becoming a weird friendship. It's not super close, but they do interact with each other on a casual semi-regular basis.

That is until somehow the two take the same assassin mission on accident through K-Entertainment and basically the they have to work together and split their earnings. (Before anyone asks, yes Shallow is shocked that Scarlet is also an assassin, like she just thought she carried a katana around because she was practicing traditional samurai technique stuff as a recreational sport.)

There is a lot of tension and anxiety on this one mission, mostly about whether they can trust each other or not. Shallow respects Scarlet's capabilities and intelligence, and understands that in this situation that Scarlet is arguably much more capable and well-disciplined when it comes to pulling off assassin missions. Plus she is very aware of the skill difference the two have, Scarlet is very precise with her movements and attacks while Shallow kinda has a bit issue with leaving herself open to being attacked, so they realise they have a lot of catch up to do. They even verbalize this at the end of the mission and insists that Scarlet should take a larger cut of the earnings as opposed to evenly splitting it.

Shinobu is a bit surprised by this generosity and selflessness. I mean you really can't trust other assassins, but here seeing that selflessness is genuinely shocking. She is a bit apprehensive about this development in this potential friendship, as much like anyone she doesn't want to lose a potential friend/ally she can rely on in times of need. Additionally she knows that losing a friend in a situation like this would be VERY PETTY, so she kinda goes along and takes most of the earnings, but does persuade Shallow that next time if this happens, that they should split the earnings evenly. Scarlet doesn't feel guilty taking most of the earnings, rather she's saddened that Shallow downplays her abilities with time-space-portal manipulation, because to Scarlet, she thinks they're really cool and finds said powers to be a great support assist to her own fast attacks + it allows her to travel to different spaces in one area.

For a while I think this sort of friendship would be sort of strained for a bit but that's mostly due to miscommunication + Shallow isn't super sure how to tell the cool and calculated Scarlet that actually 'I NEVER intended to sign up for this, I thought it was a joke but turns out it was real. Now I'm scared for my life because I'm involved in a world that is VERY much not my crowd.' When Scarlet is told this, it kinda gives her an epiphany that Shallow is just trying to find faer's footing in a situation they never asked to be apart of, and she really does empathise with the pastel goth/pastel punk assassin. Shinobu was in a similar position when she started, but she does commend how Shallow despite starting out has been able to hold out on her own even with less combat experience.

The two kinda agree to keep their assassin lives separate from their friendship, in that they just want to not have to be pitted against each other for a rankings fight because they both know that Sylvia is... not above arranging such a fight for money. They don't stop their friendship, they still regularly communicate via text, phone calls etc. but try their best to not see each other in person at least, which means warning each other where they'll be so they can't be seen together because they know that other assassins will notice this and try to target both of them.

I should stress that this friendship does go back to normal, face-to- face/hang out interactions after Shinobu has her ranking fight with Travis, which immediately puts Shallow on edge because finding out that otaku who hangs out at the video store and visits Area 51, turned kind of neighbor (because your artist residency/workshop is a rented place out of the No More Heroes Hotel), turned best friend is capable of killing is really worrying. Fae's worried that yet another situation could arise where Sylvia could potentially get them to fight and kill each other, so for their safety she kinda gets a bit withdrawn from him a bit.

OBVIOUSLY THAT GETS CLEARED UP LATER, BUT LIKE. THIS POST IS ALREADY LONG ENOUGH AS IT IS, I might make like a second post explaining how Shallow and Travis (and Bishop) are friends. And obviously. and make TWO even more longer posts talking about the relationship with Henry, and also like. the backstory shallow has leading into NMH1.

#shallow rambles #suda51posting #nomoreposting #[p]: shinobu | season of the samurai #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #self insert tag #GOD I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN SO MANY WORDS FOR A SINGLE POST ASIDE FROM THAT ONE POST #EXPLAINING WHY JAWS BY SLEEP TOKEN IS LIKE. THE PERFECT ENCAPSULATION OF SHALLOW AND HENRY's #RELATIONSHIP. but i don't regret writing these posts because it gives me the excuse to just throw ideas against a wall and see what sticks #but also to like. expand some characterisation of existing canon characters and how their interactions with my self insert impacts them #this post evolved from: shinobu and shallow become friends via area 51 to the dilemma of working in the assassin world and not #wanting to lose a potential friendship you've JUST MADE #WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT TUMBLR HAD A HARD TIME TRYING TO SAVE THIS POST?! I HAD TO COPY PASTE EVERYTHING INTO A NOTEPAD TO SAVE IT #JUST IN CASE THIS POST NEVER SAVED?! YEAH. THAT HAPPENED. #AND THEN IT TURNED OUT IT SAVED ALL THE CHANGES ANYWAYS?! I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD BE THANKFUL (i'm not) because wow #tumblr you STILL SUCK.

[malewifehenrycooldown]

the retcon of 'shallow candy is an assassin because it helps them cover their rent' has once again now changed to 'she signed a flier advertising the ranked assassin thing as a light hearted joke because she thought it was a joke - only to find out that actually its the real deal and later gets pissed off even more when she finds out its also a scam run by Sylvia'

before anyone asks: 'she can just quit, its not THAT hard to opt out' I just want to say this is no more heroes we're talking about, it's a LOT HARDER to get out of the cycle of violence than it looks.

It's a ranked system, and people who are on the lower end of the ranking ladder WILL claw and fight their way to the top, and they don't care if a lot of blood is going to be spilled to get there.

Even if you're in the top 5 ranked assassins, you HAVE to worry about the people who are ranks below you. Usually these fights are arranged, but since many are hungry to retain a more powerful spot on the ladder, they will strike other assassins whenever they want, whenever they can. Shallow only stays as an assassin for as long as she does because being an assassin comes with a 'don't fuck with me' warning label on it, and while being on the lower ranked end means they can blend in a lot more with the crowd as higher ranked assassins won't really view her as a threat, however it does put a target on her back especially for those who are below her ranking level.

It should be mentioned that later down the line she does slowly proceed to withdraw herself from the assassin world, however the threat is technically still there but considering where she ends up at the end of N///M//H3, both in terms of character development/progression and narratively - lets just say even the most opportunistic assassin realise that going after her ranking would end VERY badly for them (as to what that means, I'll leave it up to your imagination).

#shallow rambles #nomoreposting #suda51posting #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #self insert tag

[malewifehenrycooldown]

If Shallow Candy married Henry, she’d have to live with the fact that Travis is now officially her brother-in-law.

#shallow rambles #nomoreposting #one hand. cool! your best friend is your brother in law! #the other hand. you have to stop your husband and brother in law from killing each other #not a bad deal. #it’s that or deal with your husband’s shitty adoptive father + extended family that turned him into a living weapon #<- no one wants to deal with toxic family members like them #safe to say that shallow and henry don’t intend on visiting ‘that side’ of the family anytime soon #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Thinking about how during the battle royale in NMH2, that Henry tried to protect Shallow from becoming ‘nothing but ash’ but as he tries to protect her, he’s essentially ‘han solo’d’ and frozen into carbon much to Shallow’s horror and at that point she’s like the only person left standing up against Dr. Letz Shake, who’s this big machine supercomputer with a human brain that says stuff like ‘do you agree with this situation. Question mark.’ (He’s literally a robot kind of??)

Obviously it seems a bit inconvenient for Letz Shake do to this, but as a means of getting revenge it makes a lot of sense. You see, during the Battle Royale, Dr. Letz Shake took the time to analyse and compute the dynamic/interactions between Henry and Shallow. He was able to piece together that the two are always fought together and protected each other from enemies, and realised that it cross references with a concept know as “love”. Letz Shake decided to exploit that form of love by placing Shallow Candy in a dangerous situation that essentially forced Henry to come to her aid, but actually it was a trap for him all along and that she wasn’t really an actual target of concern for Letz Shake (like every assassin who underestimates a pastel goth assassin with blue hair and pronouns.).

#HMMMM THINKING ABOUT THE ANGST #timeline wise shallow and henry are a thing at this point but man I love throwing an angsty wrench into my ships #also when Travis shows up it like. helps even the playing field and he and shallow kill dr. Letz shake :3 #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #nomoreposting #shallow rambles #hi sorry this is my silly excuse of ship lore I guess shshshhdhs #that said I do think about that battle royale part a lot #because they literally just cut the amount of assassins in the competition in half. like you jump from 26 to 10 #in the UAA Rankings

[malewifehenrycooldown]

a while ago (read: two months ago) I conversed with @voidselfshipp about a silly idea. It was about the reason why Henry’s coat is absent in NMH2, and it’s because he gave it to Shallow Candy as a gift to remember him by (also because she kept stealing it especially during winter). <- two years before NMH2, they became an actual couple*.

She does make slight alterations for it to properly fit her, but they also add small personal touches to it like sewing patches and enamel pins to it. Although it still retains indicators that the coat was originally Henry’s. Extra important note is that she does wear this coat in NMH3 design, because obviously she desperately wants him to come back home and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring him back. She's hoping that perhaps seeing one of his original coats might be able to jog his memory of her, the memories of them as a couple, and she hopes whatever feelings these memories instilled in him, return and essentially persuade Henry to come back home.

#this has been stuck in the drafts for a bit but i felt that it was important to share this detail <3 #to me henry's coats are like. insular or are weighted to keep the wearer warm in colder environments #shallow rambles #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #nomoreposting #nmh3 spoilers #queue awaits you at the garden of madness #thoughts on queue #*to me henry and sylvia's divorced happened like. right after NMH1. like not even a year. like. they divorced a day after #sylvia stopped him and travis from killing each other at the end of NMH1.

[malewifehenrycooldown]

had a funny image in my head that goes along with this silly AU, but the idea of Shallow taking Henry and his Emerald Knights out for smoothies, photographing a selfie with them and posts it online to her (private) profile with the caption "just me hanging out with the guys!" is both funny and adorkable. Like. imagine this blue haired pastel goth lady who's 169cm tall being surrounded by folks in business suits (that give off the vibe of ‘we are dangerous. do not fuck with us’) going to a 1980s style diner to get smoothies.

Cue Midori Midorikawa finding this post as she follows the private account and shows Travis the post - and he flips out when he sees it because in his words "Shallow is off doing stupid shit again without thinking about the consequences!"

#she's doing stupid shit because she's in love! let her be travis!! #also like. in-universe she hasn't seen henry since like. 2017-ish so GIVE HER A BREAK TRAVIS #this is even funnier knowing the context that actually the emerald nights are (possibly) henry's clones LOL #shallow rambles #nomoreposting #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #[p]: travis touchdown | the crownless king #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #[p]: midori midorikawa | red blue green #[platonic tag] #[qp]: order of emerald knights | die by the crucifix

[malewifehenrycooldown]

I have this specific mental image of a scene that would (ideally) occur in No More Heroes III, where Shallow Candy, with tears in her eyes, practically BEGS Travis to bring his brother back home, to bring him back to normal, to bring him back to a mental state that is healthy and not self destructive.

Travis does kinda shrugs it off a bit, but Shallow Candy just grabs him by the scruff of his jacket (despite being shorter than him), and basically threatens Travis (her best friend mind you!) that if he doesn't bring his brother home, that she'll go out there alone and do it herself. she'll do whatever it takes to bring back Henry home, even if it means that she dies by his hand in her attempt to bring him home. In her mind, if her death is able to wake up Henry from his mental state and finally come home to the people that matter to his life, then she's okay with that.

#even if travis doesn't get exactly along with his brother henry is practically the living relative he has left and losing henry #like he lost jeane would leave him pretty alone in the world and i don't think travis would want that. #sorry having a normal one tonight.... #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #shallow rambles #what i'm saying is. this ship is like poetically tragic in that they'll both risk their lives for each other no matter the cost. #nomoreposting #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Hi. Because I keep replaying the Henry v Mimmy fight in death match mode, it got my brain thinking + I’m nearly up to that fight in my second playthrough. It got my brain thinking about how it affects my ship lore but the it turned into me recontextualising Mimmy’s Character.

- important to note before diving into this silly rewrite is that the Henry v Mimmy fight. Isn’t real. It’s happening when Henry is in a Coma after being freed from Dr. letz shake and he’s been uncabronised. The thing is that in NMH2, Henry ends up in Travis’s care, who may I remind people has a house NOT FIT for an incapacitated person. And so, for the sake of this version, Henry after the fight with Letz Shake is in Shallow’s care (her apartment has a guest bedroom. And vastly a more comfortable environment for Henry to be in compared to a claustrophobic motel room covered in anime merchandise.)

- OKAY MAYHAPS I SHOULD ADD SOME PREV CONTEXT ON TO WHY HENRY IS IN A COMA: there was a battle royal set up by the UAA, and Henry was involved. There was also another assassin by the name of Doctor Letz Shake, and he’s a. Machine that was hellbent on getting revenge on Henry. And he succeeds by encasing Henry in Carbon (Han Solo style).

- SLIGHT Alteration, is that Shallow was also involved in the battle Royale, but that she is able to get out of Letz Shake’s laser beams via her ability to make portals and pocket dimensions. unfortunately due to reasons, Henry insisted that she protect herself as a means to survive the Battle Royale and that he could take care of it himself (not realising his over confidence is what gets him encased in carbon + he directly falls into Letz Shake’s trap).

- the whole Letz Shake fight is explored into more detail here (it’s better explained in that post), but Obvs the outcome has Shallow feels really guilty about this but thankfully Travis comes up to fight Letz shake and basically the two work together to take him down.

- with a carbonised Henry free, it means someone needs to take care of him, initially Sylvia insisted Travis did so (much to his annoyance) but Shallow steps in and basically says: “HAVE YOU SEEN TRAVIS’S APARTMENT?! There is literally no room there!! Henry would be better off in my care because I at least have a spare guest bedroom!”

- Sylvia takes a moment to consider and then realises ‘yeah actually you’re right on this one’

- when Henry is un-carbonised, he is basically in a coma and having horrendous nightmares. And the main thing ‘haunting’ him is this entity known as Mimmy who is the literal embodiment of Henry’s anxieties of becoming like Travis. And it doesn’t help that Mimmy is like. A cute anime girl with mech arms and stuff.

- Mimmy in this version slightly different in her charactersation, in that she playfully taunts/messes with his mind by placing Henry in scenarios that he has previously thought of in his mind, and surprise! Most of them involve Shallow Candy, and honestly most of them go the way he initially imagined.

- Mimmy uses these scenarios to persuade Henry to stay in this mind palace/to not wake up back to reality, making the fake promise of making all of his hopes, dreams and wishes can come true here if he stayed. Mimmy even insists that “you can be with her in endless bliss and not have to worry about the real world’. And the thing is, he’s almost 100% convinced by it, yet he’s torn between the voice that in his head telling him to wake up, But yet part of him wants to stay.

- Henry is further convinced to stay when Mimmy when she shows him the future NMH3 version of himself going mad and causing destruction.

- there are two explanations why Mimmy shows this. She uses this as a means to show Henry a ‘What if’ version of himself in which he never met Shallow. Alternatively, she shows him this and says that fate will eventually come for Shallow and that her death will result in him losing himself to his own grief, and makes the irrational decision to take that grief and anger onto the world.

- the latter VERY much frightens him. It’s a horrifying thought and it almost convinces him to stay. Almost…

- Mimmy, believing that she has Henry full convinced, says: “We can stay here forever and ever and ever like a happy family!” It should be noted that part of her warning sort of come true but just not in the way she initially described them + she innocently and naively believes that she can help prevent Henry from going through more emotional pain, especially since she has seen his past and sympathises with him. She is well-intentioned but misguided in believing she can stop him from experiencing more emotional pain that he has already been through. The problem is that Mimmy is missing the nuances, of it.

- when Mimmy says this, she’s made a huge error. She has tried to supplant herself to be a substitute of Jeane, Henry’s daughter. it actively alarms him, directly snapping him back to the reality of the situation.

- Henry does care about his daughter, Jeane. He’s done his best to raise her in a world that is very cynical, and has done his best to (mostly) shield her away from the world of assassins and organised crime. He doesn’t want her to follow the same path he has gone down, and has actively used as much political power in his family to make sure they (the cooldown family) does not take her and raise her to become yet another soldier to do their bidding. He wants her to have a normal childhood that he never got to experience, he wants to ensure that she is supported in a positive environment, a luxury he was never given by his adopted family. He uses this motivation as a way to challenge Mimmy’s authority.

- When Henry defeats Mimmy, she pleads for forgiveness, saying that ‘she only wanted some form of company and never really intended to harm him.’ Henry does take some pity on her, before he can ‘kill/disintegrate her’ she does warn him that there are some truths to his future but is unable to specify what happens. And the thing is Henry simply accepts them as possibilities that could happen, but that he’d take responsibility for them when/even before he gets to those points.

- when Henry wakes up in his Coma, he realises he’s in Shallow’s Guest Room. Shallow is alerted by this because she hears him wake up (because honestly it was not a super pleasant experience being in a coma and if you’d wake up from one you’d probably make a ruckus and ask the empty space ‘where am I’ hoping for someone to respond and inform you what has happened lol). She comes to his aid and basically tries to offer some comfort + explain what happened to Dr. Letz Shake. Henry is a little bit disoriented but he’s mostly glad to see Shallow is okay.

- they both have a slightly awkward exchange with each other, but mostly Henry apologies for being too over confident during the battle royale + placing himself in unnecessary danger and shallow apologies for not being smart enough when it came to their strategy in the battle Royale, and that they should have been a little more subtle in how they protect/cover for each other in ranking fights. They just. Kinda have a quiet moment together in each other’s presence really.

- this quiet moment with each other is interrupted by phone call from the UAA letting Henry know that Travis is ranked 7, and that Sylvia has given him the green light to take out ranks 6,5 and 4 for his brother to progress. Which wow. Thanks Sylvia, you really know how to ruin an intimate moment huh /sarcasm.

#SORRY THIS IS SO LONG!!! #I will say that Mimmy isn’t like. evil she’s just misguided. and also again. representative of Henry’s anxieties #nomoreposting #shallow rambles #💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You #[r]: henry cooldown | we are finally cowboys #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Quick Sneak preview of my (redesigned) NMH self insert (WIP)

#undescribed image #shallow draws #the messy patterns on the top are for colour placement for later :3 #no more heroes self insert: shallow candy #🧁🍦 | not your sweetheart