This is a creative project I've done in response to RWBY: Ice Queendom, the 2D anime series spin-off of RWBY that got released this year. The plot consists of Weiss Schnee being possessed by a Nightmare Grimm, which corrupts into a frozen-hearted dictator in her own mindscape with an immense hatred of Faunus. The rest of Team RWBY must then enter her mindscape in order to get rid of the Nightmare and save her.
I would like to start by saying that I did not decide to do this project because I liked Ice Queendom in any form. In fact, as sad as it is to confess it, I actually didn't think much of the series. Weiss came off as way too annoying to be sympathetic in the early episodes even before being corrupted, even when taking the way she was already portrayed in Volume 1 of the original RWBY, and I felt that several interesting plot points were ultimately wasted. It's a pity really, because it was Studio SHAFT working on it and considering that they were responsible for Puella Magi Madoka Magica, one of my favourite anime series of all time, I expected to appreciate Ice Queendom in the same way too.
That said, I found the concept of Negative selves that the series explores really interesting. And after a particular plot twist in Episode 10 that I will not spoil, I became curious about the idea of exploring what the Negative selves of other characters from other works would be like. And being the major Death Battle fan I am, I wondered to myself - what would the Nightmare-infected hosts of the show be like?
So here are the ideas that I have in mind, based on their personalities, personal issues, interests and just about nearly everything else I learnt about them in the show. They will consist of pictures that get my main ideas about the characters across, and then text that explains them and their mindscapes in further detail.
Negative Wiz.
Nega-Wiz is still a scientist like the real deal, only in a more cyber punk manner. Rather than simply being a humanoid cyborg with a robotic arm, he is now a full-on robotic figure with metallic skin. One of his robot arms looks like the one he currently has, whilst the other one looks a lot sleaker and well-built, based on how it appear in original fan art of the character. He acts more like your stereotypical mad scientist too, complete with the evil laugh and flamboyant hand gestures.
His mindscape is a futuristic science lab, as you would expect of a scientist like him. It will likely have a lot of greens and blues in it, similar to the colours of the t-shirts that he has worn over the years. There are plenty of torture devices within it, which he sends unwitting test subjects into. Robots guard the doors to the lab in case any strangers try to break in. If somebody does, they'll act straight away, trying to shoot them down with laser guns and tasers.
In Nega-Wiz's mindscape, Boomstick is portrayed as a pet dog who is both a faithful companion and a lab experiment. Though Nega-Wiz does care for him and treat him well on several occasions, he is not afraid to exploit him for science if necessary. Meanwhile, Jocelyn and the other interns are portrayed as lab rats that Nega-Wiz happily experiments on without any remorse, symbolising how he sees them as expendable in real life. As for Ringmaster, he is a shadowed figure outside the lab who occasionally peeks in. Dog-Boomstick pants happily every time he appears, but Nega-Wiz gets furious and forbids Boomstick from going near the door when it happens, alluding to how the real Wiz doesn't like the fact that the real Boomstick sometimes sees Ringmaster as his best friend rather than Wiz.
Meanwhile, Nega-Wiz's mother and father are unconscious test subjects strapped to machines that he is trying to bring back. His father was emotionally distant from him while he was alive and is currently dead, while his mother's situation is ambiguous (depending on the blooper reel, she's either dead or comatose, though the main episodes imply she is still alive), so their status in the nightmare world reflects this. Every time he tries to bring them back, something goes wrong which means that he has to start all over again, showing that he cannot quite connect to them no matter how hard he tries.
Negative Boomstick.
This was my favourite concept to explore out of all four hosts. Nega-Boomstick is essentially the psychopathic manchild trope taken to extremes - he wears a baby romper (with it flopping round his shotgun leg) and paper crown and plays with toys, often violently. He sucks his thumb and will burst into tears over the slightest problem, though gets very excited when involved in play. Despite his childish behaviour and attire, he still drinks alcohol, swears and uses guns. He has a particularly large shotgun that he uses whenever he's angry, blasting "faulty" toys and other nuisances that tick him off. At some point, he'll probably end up singing a creepy and depressing song, likely a twisted lullaby or nursery rhyme.
The mindscape Nega-Boomstick resides in resembles a twisted child's play-room, representing the fact that he has not matured emotionally. There are plenty of battered toys, a shabby Wendy House resembling his real life shack and snacks strewn on the carpet. Sometimes he will even pick the snacks off the ground and eat them if he's hungry. His pets just run rampant over the room and he doesn't bother to clean up their messes, even if it involves their excrement. They're also ridiculously big, with Jack Spaniels appearing in his Devil Gene form and Mr. Snappy serving as a giant cushion for Nega-Boomstick to sit on. No parent in their right mind would allow their child to play in a room like this, but Nega-Boomstick is perfectly fine with it.
The mindscape versions of Wiz, Jocelyn and Ringmaster are portrayed as action figures that he likes to play with, but will still bash about if he was annoyed about something. If he breaks them though in his fits of anger (especially Wiz and Ringmaster), he will get surprisingly upset and teary-eyed about it. His daughter appears as a Barbie doll of some sort that he treats somewhat better, but is very obsessed with making her dress in a non-sexualised manner and often puts her in a "safe" box for safekeeping, given that he's pretty overprotective of her in real life. In fact, he doesn't even play with her that often. His mother on the other hand is portrayed as a ragdoll that he confides in during his more emotionally vulnerable moments, and unlike the action figures, he would never dream of mistreating her. If his real life mother was somehow able to make her way into his mindscape, it's highly likely that she would be able to talk reason into him and be able to extract the Nightmare from him despite being stuck in her toy body due to how much he trusts her. His Grandma and Granddad are also portrayed as stuffed toys that he treats with respect.
Not everyone appears in toy form though. His ex-wife is portrayed as an ice cat who keeps pestering him by entering his playroom when he doesn't want her to, eating all his snacks and swatting all the toys down. I imagined her depicted in this manner due to her being made out to be an ice queen who's way too obsessed with food and has a pet cat in real life. In fact, since it's implied that Boomstick has had several ex-wives, the cat could be an embodiment of all the ex-wives combined due to him seeing them as the same person. Meanwhile, his stepfathers would be portrayed as grotesque caterpillar figures with their real life faces attached to the front, who also pester Nega-Boomstick frequently. Every time he tries to shoot them to bits, they just regenerate, as if he can't quite shake their mistreatment of him out of his mind.
Had Boomstick ended up with this form before Episode 150 of Death Battle, his father would have been a dominant figure inside his mindscape due to being a major reason for his current mental health issues. He would have been portrayed as a giant shadowed figure who loomed over the playhouse and commanded over the stepfathers, as well as a major arch-nemesis to Nega-Boomstick and the only enemy who could overwhelm him. As Episode 150 ended with (spoiler alert) him moving on from his father, this is unlikely to be the case now, and at most, the father will probably just be on the same power level as the stepfathers. In fact, unlike them, Nega-Boomstick could probably shoot him up easily without worrying about him regenerating, due to completely rejecting him now. He'll still be portrayed as a shadowed figure though, to show how Boomstick has never really learnt his true identity.
Negative Jocelyn.
Nega-Jocelyn is presented as an embittered army figure, rising up and planning to overthrow Wiz and Boomstick. Though she is not insane or as twisted as the other Negative versions of the hosts, she still has an unfettered nature and comes across as a knight templar at times. She wears a military uniform consisting of a short sleeved jacket, trousers, boots and a cap.
Her mindscape resembles a large prison, symbolising how she feels trapped in her occupation as an intern. Her own jail cell would have initially been the same size as the broom closet she used to work in had she ended up in this form before the relaunch of DBX, but now it would just be the same size as her current office. That said, she has been able to break out of this cell and is now able to navigate the prison easily, unlocking the other cells and setting the prisoners free in order to have them join her cause.
Any other interns working at Death Battle labs will be depicted as silhouetted soldiers that Nega-Jocelyn leads over, following her every command as she rallies them on to attack their enemies. Wiz and Boomstick themselves are represented as the head jailers, dressed up in fine kingly robes and crowns and sitting on fancy thrones. They come across as even more repulsive than they are in real life, giving Nega-Jocelyn even more of an incentive to attack them. Even if their real selves entered the mindscape and tried to reason with her, Nega-Jocelyn would still insist on fetching their heads. As for Ringmaster, he'll probably be a prison guard that claims to want to help the prisoners but has his own ulterior motives, reflecting how he was happy to accept her as a co-host on his show, but for his own reasons.
Negative Ringmaster.
Nega-Ringmaster is, as expected, dressed like an actual circus ringmaster, complete with a stupidly large bowtie. He shares the same suave and flamboyant nature as his real self, as well as his more psychotic side, but this time his crazy nature is bloated to grotesque extremes. If a single mistake is made by someone else or they defy him in any way, he goes absolutely ballistic and will essentially try and take them out lethally. He loves chaos in his ring and has a dislike for order, similar to his dislike of research and love of bloodshed.
His mindscape is essentially a creepy circus in the style of the old-time ones. There are zombie animals and creepy clowns galore, and the ring itself has a chaotic vibe to its deathtraps. There are plenty of pyrotechnics going off, some even going off in the stands where the audiences are. The audiences are constantly getting killed by the pyrotechnics and then coming back to life for no apparent reason at all, likely because Nega-Ringmaster won't allow them to leave and wants to satisfy his own ego by keeping them there. Most of them cheer wildly when watching the shows, but there will occasionally be the odd booing sound, reflecting how Ringmaster desires positive attention but cannot escape the negative type. Every time he silences the booing with the use of pyrotechnics, it will happen again sometime later.
The mindscape versions of Wiz and Boomstick are depicted as cutboard cutouts that he communicates with frequently, similar to the ones he used in DBX. They can talk, but mainly with Ringmaster's voice impersonating their real selves. Boomstick wears a clown outfit while Wiz wears a Harlequin outfit. Meanwhile, the mindscape version of Jocelyn is depicted as a magician's assistant in a sparkly leotard who comes across as flawless and simply goes along with what Nega-Ringmaster wants, given that when she appeared in DBX, he tried to ignore stuff about her he didn't like and ultimately chose her as his potential future co-host due to him liking the fact that she was normal compared to everyone else. If the real Jocelyn entered his mindscape, he would no doubt lose his temper and try and assert his control over her again as she tries to avoid him and locate the Nightmare in his mindscape.
Obviously my artwork is not up to quality artist standards, and neither is the colouring, but I hope I was able to get my thoughts and ideas across, both in the pictures and in my explanations. It would be interesting to think about the Nightmare forms for other characters in media, maybe even characters in RWBY that did not get infected by the Nightmare. Possibly even characters from other Rooster Teeth works or ones from outside Rooster Teeth. :D
