The Gildedguy Stories are Stick Figure Animations created by Michael Moy, also known as Gildedguy. They detail the eponymous character's life in the land of Cier and his troubles, whether that be getting into fights with all sorts of superpowered characters or just not being able to pay the bills.

While the character of Gildedguy has existed since The 2000s, the first official story, Gildedguy vs Fry, was released on June 13, 2015, marking the true beginning of the series.

As of 2026, there are ten episodes released out of a planned total of eleven, with new animations and side material being released occasionally. The series is heavily related to the Rock Hard Gladiators/Dojo Duels and FluidAnims/Stick Page/Hyun's Dojo mythos in general, so knowledge of the above is recommended for a full experience, but not required to enjoy the stories. Most of the time.

The full series can be watched on the creator's YouTube channel, and more information can be found on the creator’s website and the series's WorldAnvil page.

For Michael Moy's previous work catalogued by TV Tropes, see Slush Invaders.

The Gildedguy Stories provide examples of:

• Accidental Resurrection: How Yupia is finally reintroduced into the story. Unfortunately, she doesn't want it.
• Acid Attack: Bog is capable of this, though this version of him rarely uses it.
• All There in the Manual: The WorldAnvil page for the series fills a lot of holes in the lore that aren't explained or explicitly shown in the animations themselves. Additionally, some information about featured characters can only be found in their original character bios, as now archived by several wikis.
• Alternate Universe: Technically takes place in once, since Cier is a Public Domain world offered up by Hyun's Dojo for individual creators to tell their stories in and alter as they please. Gildedguy's version is officially called Stellapent Cier.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: As per tradition in stick figure animation, every single character's skin is a different exotic color.
• April Fools' Day: gildednutz 2, the sequel to the infamous "gildednutz" animation, was released for April Fool’s day.
• Appeal to Worse Problems: When Gildedguy refuses Oxob's offer for bandages, he takes a look at the scars on Gildedguy's hands and promptly reveals the much larger ones extending down his wrists, as if to accuse him of being overdramatic. Since Oxob is unaware of the trauma behind Gildedguy's scars, this just comes off as highly insensitive to him.
• Arcology: The Life Factory, Gildedguy's birthplace, is a massive self-contained facility that has room for entire generations of workers to grow up and retire without ever stepping outside.
• Arc Symbol: The Stellapent, a five-pointed green star that's connected to the pen Gildedguy carries around and possibly Gildedguy himself. It's often used to symbolize inspiration.
  • Other characters have them as well. Andre has a blooddrop (both crossed out and not), Mar has a red diamond, and Yupia has a pink X.
• Art Evolution: A given considering the series has been active for close to a decade, but each new story shows a significant step up in quality from the previous. Contrast Story 1's extremely simplistic and messy lines, flat colors, and no background to Story 5's fully rendered and highly detailed characters and environments.
• Art Shift: Done multiple times, particularly in the later stories.
  • Occurs for the first time in Gildedguy vs Bog where, as the fight progresses, the art switches to being composed of neon outlines with only glowing effects to fill them in, to harsh solid colors with pitch-black shading, to finally intercutting the climax with live-action footage.
  • Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy has multiple of these. It features some brief 3D modeling, a charcoal-styled motion comic sequence that transitions directly into a 2D stick figure fight, brief forays into the styles of Alan Becker, Harry Partridge, and multiple Storytime Animators, and finally a papercraft style for its epilogue.
  • Gildedguy Gets Up has more uses of 3D assets, a Sakuga sequence where solid lines and colors are briefly thrown out in favor of extremely fluid motion, and, in The Stinger, a reversion to Gildedguy vs Fry's amateurish artstyle to lead into the series proper.
  • Gildedguy & the Rock Hard Gladiator intentionally has everything but the background done with rough, sketchy lineart for the first two acts of its fight before the final act switches to a beautiful oil-paint aesthetic that uses completely different color palettes and even incorporates some 3D while still keeping the rough lineart. It also has brief instances where characters take on a more traditional stickman look to tie into that story's running motifs.
  • Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar makes extensive use of 3D modeling, using it to render the entire environment for a chase sequence and later most of the GildedMech.
• The Atoner: Andre in Story 7. His campaign to destroy all traces of the Rock Hard Gladiators is born of guilt from his founding of and participation in the brutal violence of the gladiator bloodsport, with a goal of halting the further glorification of violence.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Gildedguy's armor, which looks awesome and serves its purpose reasonably well, but due to being Cast from Money, is extremely expensive to maintain.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Gildedguy, despite his goofy moments, is not stupid. He wins a lot of his fights because he fights using his head, rather than just charging in without a plan. This can be seen all over the place, from letting Bog into his head to fight on an even level, absorbing Oxob's electricity to supercharge his own movement and strength, and using the Dragon of Mar's own innards to create flame-proof armour.
• "Awkward Silence" Entrance: During one of Story 5's imagine spots, an entire western saloon of RHGs turn to glare at Gildedguy (as the Green-Eyed Cowboy) when he enters.
• Badass Crew: Clan Nemesis, a mercenary group composed of six powerful, professionally trained fighters.
• Badass Normal: Gildedguy himself, who regularly fights multiple superpowered opponents with just an extendable sword, some armor, and his pen. May be subverted, however, as later stories seem to imply there's something special about him.
  • Downplayed with Fry, who's similarly dependent on his energy-slinging frying pan but considerably less of a badass. Alfa was also one when he was alive.
• Bar Brawl: Gildedguy imagines himself having one of these with a whole saloon of RHGs, though true to the classic stick-fight style the animation takes on during this sequence, it quickly turns into a bar massacre.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Oxob is able to catch Gildedguy's sword mid-air, which leads to him shocking it out of his hands and tossing it away. All justified since Oxob's hands are metal.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: The climax of Gildedguy vs Bog features Bog entering Gildedguy’s body and attacking his psyche itself. At first Bog seems to be tearing Gildedguy’s internal self apart, but when it becomes apparent he can’t inflict any lasting damage on it is when the tables finally start to turn in Gildedguy's favor.
• Battle in the Rain: Gildedguy's battle with Oxob takes place during a heavy rainstorm that gets more intense as the fight progresses until it's a full-on thunderstorm.
• Beta Outfit: Gildedguy spends most of Gildedguy Gets Up wearing a Painter's Plate, a standard issue set of grey armor for employees of the Life Factory. He's later able to use the tattered remains of a moneybag as a cape and the resemblance to his armor is solidified when it's painted gold during the climax.
• Bigger on the Inside: The Dragon of Mar's stomach is an extradimensional space to contain all of the gold it eats. Large enough to house multiple people and even for Gildedguy to build a Humongus Mecha as large as the dragon while trapped inside it.
  • The WorldAnvil page also reveals the existence of Storbs, items enchanted specifically to be able to hold more than they logically would. Pa boss's bag is given as a specific example.
• Big "NO!": While it's not actually heard, Gildedguy very visibly shouts one of these when Mar lets himself drop back into the dragon, confirmed by turning the video's subtitles on. It is in fact his only real dialogue in the entire series.
• Bio-Mecha: In Gildedguy and the Dragon of Mar, the titular dragon operates like this, being an organic being that Mar Controls from the inside, though how much control he truly has over it is questionable.
• The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: After taking Gildedguy's sword by the blade, Oxob tosses it off to the side and it lands pointy-end into a rock with the momentum shunting it dramatically upright.
• Blob Monster: Bog, at least in this interpretation.
• Bloodless Carnage: Ironically, due to being a robot, Yupia's suicide attempts are almost completely devoid of blood and brutality.
• Blow You Away: Arzon can naturally control the wind, to the point where he can shoot him and Gildedguy into the sky with the right conduit to chase after Andre.
• The Cameo: Even disregarding all the paid Patreon cameos, there are enough guest appearances and references to other characters and figures in the Hyun's Dojo community to warrant a subpage of its own. See the Shout-Out page for more.
  • Story #4 (Gildedguy vs Bog) has Sthomas, Stucker, and Ben Stickobi from Slush Invaders make a brief cameo, being consumed by the radiating darkness during Gildedguy's meditation in the intro. Likely Canon Discontinuity following the release of Story #0.
• Cast from Money: Gildedguy's armor is made of coins, something that makes his already dire money situation even worse. Exploited in Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar, where he uses the gold in the dragon's horde to upgrade his armor.
• Cerebus Syndrome: After three stories of lighthearted fun, Gildedguy vs Bog (appropriately) marks the point when the series becomes much more serious and starts tackling darker, or at least more complex, themes.
• Chased Off into the Sunset: Gildedguy vs Jade ends with Nemesis Clan chasing Gildedguy for his antics during the episode.
• Cheerful Child: Lilian, who's often shown with a sunny disposition. Downplayed with Arzon, who's a teenager.
• Chunky Updraft: The battlefield starts to break apart into levitating chunks during Gildedguy vs Oxob, once both start fighting all out and trading lightning-fast blows.
• Clothing Damage: Gildedguy's armor is destroyed or damaged nearly Once per Episode.
• Continuity Nod: Enough to warrant its own subpage.
• Coolest Club Ever: Averted by the Basement, a basement music club that's fittingly lowkey for a small town. Played Straight at the end of Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar, where it's been renovated into a much glitzier establishment thanks to the dragon's gold.
• Cowboy Episode: Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy, though most of it is done in Imagine Spots.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Once Gildedguy lets Bog inside his body, there's nothing he can do but let himself get mutilated in all kinds of horrific ways. It turns out this is exactly what he wanted as while Bog can maim his inner self, he can't kill it unless he gives in, and if he never actually does that...
• Cue the Sun: After Gildedguy vs Oxob's musical portion ends and the animation fades back in, we can see the storm clouds from earlier have parted and let the Sun through, signaling both the end of the fight and a new beginning for both characters, having overcome their traumas.
• Defector from Paradise: Gildedguy was guaranteed a stable future in the Life Factory - a steady career, a family, and all needs cared for - but left it all behind to pursue his creative dreams in the outside world.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: When all seems lost in the fight against Bog, Gildedguy slits his palms on his sword to give Bog direct entry into his body. Once Bog actually gets inside, however, Gildedguy’s internal resolve turns out to be too strong for him to conquer.
• Demonic Possession: Bog's modus operandi, as he attempted with Gildedguy and potentially countless other unseen victims in the past including a success with Yupia.
• Determinator: Gildedguy. Whether it's being faced with an opponent he can't beat fairly, having to resort to a Deliberate Injury Gambit, getting stabbed in the arm, and even being Swallowed Whole for four months, he will always find a way to come out on top (or at least escape with his life), no matter what it takes.
• Dragons Versus Knights: The main motif of Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar.
• Dramatic Thunder: Of the Thunderous Confrontation variety, as the thunderstorm over Aegis Fields provides an appropriate backdrop for Gildedguy and Oxob's battle.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Both Yupia and Mar appear as cameos in Gildedguy vs Jade years before either of them would become relevant. Justified since they were both popular characters at the time of Story 2’s making. Mar would later briefly appear during the saloon scene in Story 5.
  • Andre and Arzon can be seen in Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy, the former as both part of a monument and as an imaginary opponent during the saloon scene, and the latter in the romantic restaurant on a date with Matilda. Both would take up proper, major roles two stories later in Gildedguy & the Rock Hard Gladiator.
• Eat Me: Once Gildedguy realizes Mar is trapped inside the Dragon, he dives into its throat through a deluge of fire in an attempt to save him.
• Empathic Environment: In Gildedguy vs Oxob, the storm over Aegis Fields progresses with the events of the narrative. The clouds roll in and the first drops fall seconds before Gildedguy and Oxob meet, light rain and quiet thunder accompany their Campfire Character Exploration, turning into a full storm when things go sour and the fight kicks off, then intensifying as it goes on with the final shots of the fight featuring barrages of lightning crashing down nearly as fast as the rain itself, and finally the clouds part once the fight is over, letting the evening sun rest on the recovering combatants.
• Enemy Within: The Green-Eyed Cowboy, which seems to be a manifestation of Gildedguy's desires. Resolved after Story 5, as he seems to stop being an "enemy" after that.
• Excuse Plot: Gildedguy vs Fry starts by Fry burning Gildedguy's bacon. Gildedguy gets upset. Cue fight.
• Extreme Omnivore: Gildednutz's second incarnation eats everything in his path, whether food, buildings, or other stickmen.
• The Faceless: Lilian's face is always covered up by his painter's mask. Averted by Gildedguy himself, whose face is shown multiple times.
• Face Your Fears: The main theme of Gildedguy vs Oxob, Gildedguy is forced to put his gauntlets back on in order to absorb a lethal amount of voltage from Oxob, which then in turn inspires Oxob to push through his own discomfort to stay in the fight with Gildedguy. What follows is the most visually impressive fight scene in the entire series and afterwards both fighters find themselves having completely recovered from their mental scars.
• Fade to White: The musical portion of Gildedguy vs Oxob ends with a slow fade to white while the accompanying song draws to a close, leaving the winner ambiguous until the animation fades back in for the epilogue.
• Failed a Spot Check: Gildedguy eventually becomes so caught up in his daydreams during Story 5 that he almost gets hit by a truck.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: Due to being a Blob Monster, Gildedguy is able to mutilate and dismember Bog in ways that would be horrifying otherwise. However, he's still shown to have a skeleton and even a human brain.
  • While most of it is brief, Gildedguy & the Rock Hard Gladiator still features multiple gruesomely detailed corpses and overall more blood than any story before or since.
  • Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar tones it back until the end of the second fight where the dragon gets decapitated onscreen with an appropriate amount of blood. It’s hung on for quite a while too.
• Fatal Flaw: Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy reveals Gildedguy's to be envy. He's finally able to control it by accepting it as part of himself.
  • This version of Jade happens to be an Etiquette Nazi, so when Gildedguy starts smashing up the Nemesis Castle's main hall, she's easily distracted, giving him an opening to end the fight.
• Flaming Sword: Gildedguy sets his sword on fire while battling Bog once he sees that Bog can easily heal mundane slashes and cuts.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Several for eagle-eyed viewers, most of which tease Gildedguy's eventual battle with Yupia. The most obvious (and infamous) is in Gildedguy vs Bog where, among several other flashing images, a painted image of Bog possessing Yupia can be seen for two frames.
  • Gildedguy and Arzon mimic the iconic poses of Alfa and Nhazul, becoming those characters for a single frame.
• Grand Theft Me: The Green-Eyed Cowboy successfully pulls on on Gildedguy himself during the second half of Story 5.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The Green-Eyed Cowboy, a manifestation of Gildedguy's envy and ambitions that tries to turn Gildedguy himself into one. Ultimately subverted when Gildedguy embraces the cowboy at the end, turning him into an ally.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Gildedguy battles at a close range with his sword while his Love Interest Violet fights at a distance using her Energy Bow. It's subverted both ways, however, as both characters' weapons have options that let them fight at ranges they'd otherwise be ill-suited for.
• Hope Spot: After Gildedguy unleashes a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Bog during the second leg of their fight, it seems like he's finally defeated, only for the animation to promptly reveal more goo closing in on him and the Bog he was fighting to disappear.
• Horrible Housing: Gildedguy's house can most generously be described as "modest", given that most of the little money he does make has to go to maintaining his armor. Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy shows that following his fight with Bog, Gildedguy's let it fall into even greater disrepair, complete with a Neglected Garden.
  • At the end of of Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar, he upgrades to an entire castle using the dragon's gold.
• Humongous Mecha: The GildedMech used to fight the Dragon in Story 8.
• I Am What I Am: How Gildedguy defeats the Green-Eyed Cowboy and the overall message of Story 5.
• Imagine Spot: Used liberally in Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy to illustrate Gildedguy's desires in the form of flashy western-themed scenarios. Later, his constant daydreaming nearly causes him to walk into the path of an oncoming truck.
• In the Back: Gildedguy reclaims his body from the Green-Eyed Cowboy by shooting him in the back with his own revolver, similar to the demise of real-life outlaw Jesse James.
  • Later, in Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar, Sable kills Mar by impaling him from behind with his own sword.
• Insert Song: In each episode, there is an inserted song that somewhat relates to the story.
• Improbable Weapon User: Fry uses a frying pan, Jade uses Combat Hand Fans, even Gildedguy uses a magical stylus as a sidearm/Utility Weapon.
• Improvised Lightning Rod: During the fight with Oxob, Gildedguy uses his cape to send his pen aloft into a thunderstorm, guiding a bolt of lightning back down the line to a tied-up Oxob.
• Inner Thoughts, Outsider Puzzlement: Gildedguy's second Imagine Spot during Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy makes him stop moving in the middle of a crosswalk, to the chagrin and confusion of the surrounding bystanders.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Gildedguy, mostly literally due to being more flawed than the usual example, but can take up a heroic role when he needs to.
• Knight of Cerebus: Bog. Being a character with a much darker tone than any previously featured, his appearance in Gildedguy vs Bog marks a major shift in tone with by far the darkest and most violent story up to that point and kicks off the first real Story Arc.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Gildedguy and Arzon both have a complete fanboy reaction to meeting Andre.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Gildedguy's armor, as long as it's complete, can absorb and supercharge itself with lightning, increasing Gildedguy's speed dramatically.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Pa Boss is perfectly fulfilled with the mundane day-to-day work of the Life Factory, while his son Gildedguy is restless in the routine and has grand dreams of being a renowned fighter and artist in the outside world.
• Medium Blending: Later stories make extensively increased use of 3D assets. Sometimes it's subtle (ex: the clouds in Story 7’s climax), other times it's not (ex: Story 8's Humongous Mecha).
• Mickey Mousing: The animation tends to follow the major beats of the soundtrack, whether it’s an original composition or that story’s featured song.
• Mirror Scare: During his fight with Bog, Gildedguy looks into a puddle of goo on the ground and sees his reflection... which is promptly replaced by Bog's Slasher Smile.
• Morph Weapon: Gildedguy's sword is extremely flexible, able to stretch out to ridiculous degrees and even contort itself like a whip.
• Music Is Eighth Notes: Penny’s singing is visually represented with both regular and beamed eighth notes.
• Mutual Kill: An odd example considering one of the combatants isn’t alive, but after Mar’s dragon lands a fatal blow on Gildedguy’s mech, the mech is able to pull off one last swing and decapitate the dragon with its own bladed wing.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: While Bog takes some gruesome punishment from Gildedguy's attacks, no physical attacks do lasting damage as Bog just regenerates or reforms as goo. If anything, Bog's injuries seem to be just for show as he plays with his food.
• Nightmare Sequence: Gildedguy's meditation at the beginning of Gildedguy vs Bog turns into one of these, depicting Gildedguy's armor growing tentacles that reach out for his loved ones, driving them away until he's left completely alone. Likely done to tease the oncoming threat and the possible consequences if he loses to it.
• Not Quite Flight: As shown in Gildedguy & the Rock Hard Gladiator, Alfa was able to ride on his jet sword to induce this. Later on Gildedguy is able to replicate the effect by having Arzon blow into a contraption made from his armor on the hilt of his sword and later simply by inserting his stylus into the pommel.
• No-Sell: For the first two acts of Gildedguy & the Rock Hard Gladiator, Andre is able to quash nearly all of Gildedguy and Arzon’s attacks with minimal effort, even shutting down Gildedguy’s signature flurry of slashes literal seconds after the fight starts, to show how much more experienced he is.
  • In Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar, Gildedguy's sword has no effect on the Dragon besides mildly annoying it.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Gildedguy's sword, despite being ostensibly very lethal due to its ability to stretch and bend like the ink of his Stellapen, doesn't actually do much cutting and usually seems to leave bruises and scrapes instead of any large wounds or dismembering anyone hit by it. Bog is one of the few times we actually see it act like a sword, cutting his face in half and disarming him more than once. The underlying implication is that Gildedguy's been holding back this entire time, as none of his opponents ever truly wanted to kill him... until Bog came along and made him truly fight for his life.
• Only in It for the Money: Basement Busk is dedicated to deconstructing this, as Gildedguy’s act in the Basement takes a nosedive when he starts fixating solely on earning money and only recovers once Penny’s able to remind him to focus on putting on a good show first.
• The Pen Is Mightier: Gildedguy carries a magical green stylus named the "Stella-Pen" that can create light, produce tangible green strings, act as a welding pen, and enchant weapons. Its only drawback is that it runs on a Fuel Meter of Power and replenishing it can range from effortless to borderline impossible.
• Playing with Fire: Jade and Mar both can use fire magic, but both primarily use it in conjunction with or as an enhancement to their weapons. Posthumous Character Chuck is a more straight example. Downplayed with Alfa, who can produce a blue jet flame from the pommel of his sword but mainly uses it for mobility purposes.
• Poor Communication Kills: The fight between Gildedguy and Oxob begins when Gildedguy accidentally sets one of Oxob's bandages on fire, inadvertently awakening his trauma and allowing the already-bubbling tension and bottled emotions from both parties to boil over. Once the conflict is resolved, it turns into a form of therapy for both of them.
• Real After All: The first half of Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy suggests that the titular Cowboy is only a figment of Gildedguy's imagination, but the second half reveals that not only is he real, but he can also exist as a separate entity.
• Redemption Rejection: After Gildedguy severs Mar's connection to the Dragon, Mar tentatively reaches out to accept his helping hand, only to revert to an icy, stoic stare upon seeing the judgment of the villagers (and some more of their gold) and deliberately lets himself fall back into the Dragon.
• Red Is Heroic: Gildedguy's sword is red, and he wears a red cape in earlier stories. He loses the cape during Gildedguy vs Oxob, but he doesn't get any less heroic.
  • He finally gains the cape back in Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar via a fireproof replacement made of the dragon's innards. Fittingly, he also takes up the role of an All-Loving Hero during this story.
  • Penny is a downplayed example, since she's more of a Nice Girl than a full-on hero.
• The Resenter: Gildedguy briefly falls into being this during Gildedguy & the Green-Eyed Cowboy. He gets over it by the end.
• Retcon: Gildedguy vs Bog and earlier speedpaints featured appearances by characters from Slush Invaders, Moy's previous work, with the protagonists of that series implied to still have a personal connection with Gildedguy. As of Gildedguy Gets Up, they have been written out of the series and Gildedguy's life entirely.
• Shock and Awe: Both Oxob and Andre have this power, though Andre quickly discards it in favor of the Stella-Pen’s enhancements.
  • Downplayed by Gildedguy himself, who can’t create lightning on his own but can absorb and redirect it with his gold armor.
• Rocket-Powered Weapon: The Stella-Pen, when inserted into another weapon, can turn it into this. Seen with Andre’s hammer and Gildedguy’s sword.
• Screw the Rules, They're Not Real!: Gildedguy adopting this attitude in his fight against Jade and trashing the Nemesis Hall allows him to distract her long enough to land the finishing blow.
• Silence Is Golden: None of the stories contain any sort of dialogue. While characters will sometimes speak to each other, it's always done with a Pictorial Speech-Bubble.
• Signature Move: Gildedguy swinging his extendable sword wildly to create a whirlwind of slashes. In a rarity for this trope, it doesn't work about as often as it does.
• Stab the Sky: Gildedguy tends to strike this pose before doing the larger versions of his signature Spin Attack.
• Start My Own: "The Stellapen & the Eraser" has Gildedguy start his own duel series, at Violet's suggestion.
• Stick Figure Animation: Downplayed. While keeping the basic shapes of stick figures, Gildedguy's characters have more detailed proportions and anatomy, making them closer to extremely simplified humans.
  • Some scenes, such as the daydreams in Gildedguy & the Green Eyed Cowboy, use a simplified stick-figure style as an homage to classic stick figure fight animations.
• Stylistic Suck: Gildedguy vs Bog and Gildedguy & the Rock Hard Gladiator are both drawn in an intentionally rough, sketchy style, ESPECIALLY the latter though it also abandons the look from the climax onward.
• Take a Third Option: In the Life Factory, teenagers coming of age are expected to select one of many career paths they'll follow the rest of their lives. However, a rarely-invoked rule lets initiates refuse any one career, instead vowing to "recklessly pursue their creative spirit."

  "...the fifth vow is a relic from the Five Merchants, completely incompatible with today's rules. The only way to literally invoke the fifth vow is to refuse a role during Path Selection entirely, present yourself WITHOUT a hat on your head, and jump out the window."

• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Despite the truly spectacular fights and all the collateral damage done to their surroundings, and despite being more than capable of doing so with his sword's squash-and-stretch powers, Gildedguy never aims to murder or seriously harm any of his opponents. Bog is the only one who Gildedguy goes out of his way to try and kill, from slashing at him several times (without the usual blunt quality of his sword that keeps his fights clean and bloodless) to beating his face with his gauntlets so hard that it splits his skull open like an egg.
• Trauma Button: Gildedguy's gloves become one for the lasting trauma from his fight with Bog. Both fire and the Clan Nemesis insignia for Oxob, whose fight against Jade left him scarred figuratively and literally. They're able to get over their respective traumas during their fight.
• Victory by Endurance: How Gildedguy is able to survive against Bog. After letting Bog inside his body, Gildedguy’s internal self is able to keep regenerating and repairing itself from anything Bog can do to him. Once it finally becomes clear neither side can truly defeat one another, Bog finally leaves.
  • Once Gildedguy levels the playing field between him and Oxob, he's able to beat him simply by outlasting him in combat.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Nearly every character that has a weapon is characterized by it in some way. Gildedguy's sword fits his knightly persona while its extendable properties let him show off his more creative side, Fry's pan suits his role as a simple chef, Jade's hand fans accentuate her femininity, the Green-Eyed Cowboy fights with a gold dagger and revolver fitting for a greedy cowboy, and Andre's giant hammer is evocative of his immense strength and the immense threat he poses.