2019-04-29 6:05:52 ¶ ●

This description of musclebeasts from [S] Equius: Seek the highb100d caught my attention because it follows pretty much the exact format that descriptions of the zoologically dubious; Nrub’yiglith’s vocalisations cause bones to explode, Oglogoth causes a random galaxy’s children to frown by grinding its teeth, and of course, Gl’bgolyb’s Vast Glub kills every troll in the Empire. Is it practical or meaningful that these two groups of beasts could be connected?

Musclebeasts are associated with the night (and on the same page where the Alternian undead are associated with the daytime; worth noting that Rose’s Horrorterror-fueled “grimdark” transformation is referred to as a complement to Kanaya’s sunlight-powered rainbow drinkerism). Equius, is, of course, a Void hero, and he wears the kind of shaded sunglasses that conceal the true nature of demons like Horrorterrors. His shades are also broken, which evokes the image of the broken windows that cause zoologically dubious beasts to spawn (a fact that has led some to consider broken glasses a symbol of Void).

The only other weak connection I can muster is that Doc Scratch considers the Emissary to the Horrorterrors Gl’bgolyb a pet he gave to the Troll race as a gift, in a manner perhaps not dissimilar to Rose’s mother giving her Maplehoof.