Bea, Um... I Think Your Bf Is Burning......

Bea, um... I think your bf is burning......

(Doodle I made while drawing with @the-cat-ara in magma!)

Back in 2008, after recreating all of the backgrounds in Super Paper Mario, I set out to create wallpapers featuring the game’s entire cast. Even though I only got to Chapter 1-2, I still made 45 wallpapers. Posting every single one would be ridiculous, so here are some of the best ones.

So take a look at this. This is a screenshot of Hilda’s study in the game. Take a look around it, what do we see? We see three things. First, the papers are scattered and thrown about her desk, some on the floor. Second, we see an over turned chair and broken dish ware thrown around the floor. Third, perhaps most important, we see her vanity shelf over turned and the mirror broken.

These are all very important things to look at when evaluating Hilda’s mental and emotional state during the game, as well as evaluating the backlash she’d suffer in her current state.

Seeing the desk is a usual sign of stress. Aggravation, distress, worry, throwing one’s papers about is a physical outlet with no repercussions. Just a very normal expression of anxiety and stress.

But smashing the plates and flipping the chair, that seems more like a violent outburst. Anger, frustration, denial, betrayal. An outburst perhaps that she had when her trusted friend Ravio left– the hurt and anger of being so alone. Breaking her things became the only outlet she had to vent such solitude and pain.

Now, the real kicker is the mirror and vanity. Its one thing to have included her bottles of oils or perfume in her hurt and pain– like the outbursts mentioned above. But the mirror is big. It is as if Hilda has lost her sense of self, and breaks the mirror as a rejection of her own image. A way to disconnect and, in a way, hurt her own self. She does not want to see her reflection, she resents it, she resents herself and everything she represents, so she breaks it. Shatters that resented image in a bought of anxiety, paranoia, and possible hallucination (we do also see Hilda talking to inanimate objects and paintings during the game, which can also imply a possible hallucination/psychosis). In this broken mirror, we see that Hilda truly has experienced a dysphoria with herself.

For Hilda, this kind of behavior would come from her isolation and being so manipulated by Yuga turned Hilda into a trapped animal. She was stuck between the fires of doomsday and a sheer cliff of her own short comings, destined to perish by one means or another. She no longer felt human, she only felt panic and fear.

It is my belief that Hilda suffered from a true and nervous break down. That Yuga pushed her so far into the desperation of saving herself that her usual tendencies for anxiety were exaggerated and made worse. Fearing death and being alone, Hilda broke down completely, which then led her to fall right into Yuga’s trap and become a true pawn for him during the course of the game. Before the very end, Hilda is rather monotone. Blank. She doesn’t show much of any kind of emotion, she just speaks numbly. I believe this is because of the mental break she had before the game, that after her melt down, Yuga was able to finish shaping her into the lovely little doll he needed.

So how does this matter now? Well, have you ever had a full nervous breakdown? It doesn’t just go away completely. There are after shocks. Weaknesses. Side effects. It is not caused by any one thing, but usually a combination of different stresses and/or mental illnesses. The way I portray Hilda is meant to show these. Her high stress levels, inability to sleep, paranoia, and being prone to panic attacks are all the continuing side effects of the huge breaking point Hilda reached right before the game began.

And the evidence of such a break– and the side effects which would result– are right here in her office.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILVER! Our present this year is a zine with 230 pages of content from 61 contributors

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Am I too late to ship this? Serious question.

(also touch it for higher quality)

I have seen so many strange things that I am not surprised to see a baby chick doing physical and mental exercise. Art by Lucia Heffernan on Etsy.