Shax has a reputation with his family (among the other negative ones that come with his work) for being melodramatic, noisy, and insensitive. This is because he puts too much effort into masking in public, so his overenthusiastic, often inappropriately-strong emoting comes off as completely insincere. That being said, it does start working with some folks after awhile, in the way that junk food packed with unhealthy amounts of sugar to compensate for a lack of flavor might still taste good. One aspect of character design I hadn't really appreciated until I got back in touch with my inner "neurodivergent teen imagining complicated music videos to their favorite song" was the mental image of what he might look like in motion. I think he'd probably be overly, unsettlingly animated like a looney tunes character, with small gags like having his glasses pop up in the air out of surprise or a shower of emotes radiating out from him if he tries to turn on the charm. He's probably a consummate fidgeter, unable to sit still for very long. Restless leg syndrome.
However, you can't have a Vivziepop fanwork without lots of Sad Twinks and angst, so here is the other side of the coin as well.
Naturally, growing up in a fucked-up family like the Goetia was pretty damaging to a sensitive bird like Shax. His original parents weren't outright physically abusive but they were emotionally neglectful. They occasionally offered support but it was so unpredictable that Shax never really developed proper feelings of security that are good for a healthy upbringing. On top of that, he was initially a punching bag for the other kids and even at a slightly older age while they didn't openly bully him they ignored him entirely and he had no friends to speak of. The only reason he ended up even moderately well-adjusted (with a bunch of clumsily taped-over insecurities) was that he got plucked from his original family and "adopted" by the previous owner of the name Shax who took him into that dead-end branch of the family to take up his particular domain. Being fellow outcasts, he was treated very well and actually sees the man like the father he should've had all along. In another stroke of luck, while his arranged marriage isn't quite romantic due to his minimal libido, he and his wife are at least on good terms and treat each other like friends. I.... haven't decided whether that would insinuate that they're in an open marriage of some kind. The pressing question of Shax being forced to produce an heir seems less important than it would be for someone like Stolas since he's in a bottom-barrel branch of the family that tends to source their inheritors from adoption rather than traditional lineage. Well, it's not like I have to have all these lore bits set in stone... ha ha... so I'll just let it be and if I think of something later I'm sure it'll work out.
Anyway! Point being is that Shax also has quite a lot of emotional baggage. What's the quote about every family being miserable in its own way or something? I'm sure it's like that for individual Goetians. They do not have a healthy family dynamic at all.
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I commissioned this pair of pictures from Hydro, who is a killer great artist! Honestly, I don't even think that Shax's design was able to bring out its full potential, so you really should go check out their media tab to see what they're capable of. I don't even think that Shax's design was able to bring out its full potential, so you really should go check out their media tab to see what they're capable of. Seriously, it should be illegal to have a style this cool.
I didn't have anything specific in mind when asking for either of the two pics. I believe I just said I wanted to see two opposing kinds of expression because at the time I was still brainstorming Shax's whole deal and wanted to see him in various moods. So we have very happy and sad/contemplative. This was long ago enough that there are some details that are wrong because I hadn't managed to settle on them yet - such as his tail - but you shouldn't let that distract you from how delightful it is to meet him.
