YMMV / Growing Up Impish

• Ass Pull: Chapter 44 suddenly reveals that Moxxie somehow managed to inherit weaker versions of all of Alastor’s magic powers from inadvertently ingesting his blood several times while he was teething, and he proceeds to use them to torture George to death for everything he’s put him, Millie and everyone else through. Catharsis Factor aside, this reveal comes basically out of nowhere^note One could argue that the flashbacks to him showing Millie some form of low-level shadow magic while they were dating and his shadow devouring potential kidnappers when he was a child could count as Foreshadowing, but it was moreso implied to be Al’s shadow servants aiding him since the Overlord always sent at least one with Moxxie to keep an eye on him. and just begs the question of why he didn’t use these powers on George immediately after confronting him; Instead, Moxxie goes for a convoluted plan of Pretending To Be Brainwashed (As he’s grown immune to George’s pheromones) and bringing George to the wedding hall at the Happy Hotel, aka a venue full of people who aren’t immune to the pheromones and are especially vulnerable since George has taken a drug to make them stronger, and thus giving the Lust imp a bunch of hostages and meat shields and almost making his plan succeed. Indeed, only the timely intervention of Blitzo, Millie, Alastor, Millie’s family and Striker prevents Moxxie from getting branded in a blood-based ritual that would leave him permanently bound to George for all eternity. (Sure, Moxxie can fall into Complexity Addiction in canon, as Unhappy Campers shows, but not to this extent and certainly not in a way that would potentially put innocent people in danger)
• Narm:
  • The ending of one chapter features Striker in a field of glowing orbs (fireflies?) that he sees as taking the form of his missing little brother, which then fades away as he reaches out for it and makes him collapse into tears. It’s supposed to be sad, but the scene being interspersed with the lyrics to a song from Centaurworld, combined with this being done to Striker, of all people, Adaptational Sympathy or not, just makes it a bit too silly to take seriously.
  • One instance of this happens due to the authors attempting to Retcon a Plot Hole. The beginning of the story stated that Moxxie was born in his and Striker’s family’s home in Wrath and was a month or two old when Alastor found him, hence Striker’s photo of himself and baby Moxxie in his locket. But a later chapter reveals that their parents went to Pride while the mother was still pregnant and ended up giving birth to Moxxie at a hospital there, and Alastor thinking that Moxxie was at least a month old was a mistake on his part. Since this would contradict Striker’s locket photo since he didn’t join the family on their trip, it was changed to child Striker showing a photo of his newborn brother on a cellphone. The mental image becomes a tad ridiculous as a result, and moreso that their parents would think to send a photo of their new baby to their son while the Extermination was happening around them. Besides, going by the timeline, this would’ve happened before cellphones had built-in cameras, so this doesn’t make sense, either.
  • When Striker kidnaps Moxxie to interrogate him on his identity since he’s discovered that Moxxie is his long-lost little sibling, he gets angry at the man for not remembering his birth parents… Despite the fact that they died when Moxxie was a literal newborn and thus wouldn’t be able to remember anything about them, or anything at all, really. Broken man or not, expecting somebody to remember things from when they came fresh out of the womb is so unreasonable that it becomes laughable. (Though to be fair, Moxxie seems to think so, too, so perhaps this is intentional)
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • George’s Evil Plan is revealed to involve not just brainwashing Moxxie as well as the guests at Moxxie and Millie’s wedding (Some of them being Overlords and high-ranking Goetias, mind you; George manages to brainwash them, too, by taking a drug to make his pheromones extra-powerful) to make them believe that the wedding is actually for him and Moxxie, but also binding Moxxie to himself with Blood Magic in order to ensure that Moxxie can never, ever leave him and abducting him after the ceremony to an unknown location to keep anybody from ever finding him again. It’s even implied that he intends to keep Moxxie permanently drugged to keep him from ever trying to escape him. Fate Worse than Death, indeed. Thankfully, Moxxie’s friends and family intervene just in time, and it’s revealed that Moxxie wasn’t actually brainwashed and was just biding his time, but George still comes dangerously close to succeeding.
  • Moxxie is pushed to his limit in chapter 44 once George has been stopped. It’s revealed that he inherited Alastor’s magic powers by accidentally ingesting his blood as a teething baby, and he decides to demonstrate those powers on George. And oh, man, Beware the Nice Ones doesn’t even begin to describe it; He transforms the wedding hall into a torture chamber and straps George down to an operating table, after which he proceeds to chop off all of his appendages one by one, all the while singing ”The Dismemberment Song” to highlight just how beyond pissed he is and how much he despises George for everything he’s done to him. It all culminates in Moxxie finally killing George by tearing out his heart and crushing it in his grip. Sure, George was a heinously evil asshole and domestic abuser, and hardly anyone will shed a tear at his death, but that’s still a horrible way to go.
• Realism-Induced Horror: George is a horrifying antagonist simply due to him being a realistically written abusive boyfriend and Narcissist - Strip away the more fantastical elements of his character, and you get somebody who could exist in real life:
  • He acts sweet and understanding in public, but in private, he reveals himself to be an extremely possessive Control Freak. While he dated Moxxie, he deliberately sabotaged Moxxie’s chances at becoming a singer by throwing away any offers he got from producers and then lying to his face about it. Then, when Moxxie did finally get an offer on his own, George got angry at him for accepting it without asking for his permission, constantly gaslit and passive-aggressively verbally abused him in public and then physically and sexually abused him behind closed doors whenever he did anything that George didn’t like, even resorting to drugging him repeatedly with his pheromones to keep him in line; All the while, he insisted that it was Moxxie’s own fault for making him mad and intimidated him into silence. The only reason he was eventually caught and their relationship was finally ended was because he made the mistake of interrogating Moxxie over supposedly telling Rosie about the abuse while they were visiting Moxxie’s parents, refusing to believe him when he insisted that he hadn’t told her anything and trying to drug him, which alerted the already-suspicious Alastor and lead him to intervene. The abuse is revealed to have messed Moxxie up so badly that he cut himself over it.
  • When George catches wind of Alastor arranging a ”family reunion” at the Happy Hotel several years later, he tries to use the opportunity to reinsert himself into Moxxie’s life since Alastor, Rosie and Mimzy forced them to break up when they found out about the abuse, and he goes mad with jealousy when he finds out that Moxxie has moved on from him and married Millie. (Nevermind that he himself has slept around in the years since and is implied to have done so while they were dating, too; As far as he’s concerned, Moxxie’s life should revolve solely around him even if he’s not actively in it) Ignoring his sister’s warnings to leave them alone, he then uses any and every opportunity to try to ruin Moxxie and Millie’s relationship and reclaim Moxxie for himself by once again putting on a sweet act and trying to convince Moxxie that he’s turned over a new leaf (Though neither Alastor, Rosie or Mimzy are fooled - They only put up with his presence because Moxxie is willing to give him a chance, but Alastor in particular keeps a close eye on him), all the while constantly trying to undermine Millie’s confidence with more Gaslighting, Sugary Malice and rubbing it in her face that he knows things about Moxxie that she doesn’t because Moxxie kept his past a secret from her; Among other things, he tells her stories from back when he dated Moxxie and either deliberately leaves out key details or flat-out lies about them to her.
  • He also teams up with Striker, Verosika and Fizzarolli and tries to help Striker kill Stolas in the hopes of roping him into killing Millie while he’s at it.^note Though this backfires on him twice over; Moxxie is badly injured from Taking the Bullet for Stolas, which reveals his birthmark and makes Striker realize that Moxxie is his long-lost little brother, and Fizzarolli and Verosika alert Asmodeus about what George is trying to do once they connect the dots, which makes Ozzie show up at the climax to punish him since he’s banned the Lust imp from all of his clubs for repeatedly trying to date-rape his targets.
  • It all culminates in George kidnapping Millie on the day of her wedding to make it look like she ran away at the altar, and when Moxxie finds out and confronts him about it as well as all the years of manipulation and abuse, he repeatedly denies any responsibility for his actions while claiming that he’s doing Moxxie a favor and that the two are ”meant to be”, brainwashes Moxxie (Or, so he thinks) to get him to cooperate, hijacks the wedding by brainwashing all of the guests and tries to forcefully bind Moxxie to himself for the rest of their lives with a Blood Magic-based branding ritual at the altar.